


Once Bitten, Twice the Spy

by ILoveTeamFortressToo



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Angst, Gen, K-Unit - Freeform, Vampire AU, Violence, a different take on Eagle compared to the average fic, he's not nice, neither is Osprey, watch out for the guy with the code name 'Tiger.'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 06:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 70,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4009168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILoveTeamFortressToo/pseuds/ILoveTeamFortressToo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On Alex's 'last ever mission', something terrible happens to him. Not something he will die of, but how can he live with what he has now become? Where does he go from here, now that he's no longer quite human any more?</p><p>(Fic's reposted from FF and back from the dead. All the chapters I've written so far have now been uploaded.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> Note that as this fic was started before Scorpia Rising was released, it's only canon-compliant up to the end of Crocodile Tears.

There was one reason Alex was back there again, and one only. Or at least, that was what Alex kept telling himself.

_ 'This is the last time your employment will be required…' _

Mr Crawley's words kept echoing in his head. It couldn't possibly be true, could it? What would make them decide to actually leave him alone after all this time? Alex could just about make himself believe that finding out would justify him returning to the 'bank' once more.

Of course, it might just be a ploy to get Alex there so they could issue him with this one last mission. Or they could always simply claim that he had misheard the words or made them up. Who would he be able to complain to anyway if they went back on what Mr Crawley had said? It wasn't as though anyone would believe him…

But there was always a chance, no matter how slim, that they would be true to their word and finally allow him to return to some semblance of a normal teenager's life.

'Mr Blunt will see you now, Mr Rider,' the lady sitting behind the smart wooden secretaries desk spoke up in a polite voice, devoid of any real emotion.

Alex rose from the dark leather chair he had been waiting in for the last ten minutes and followed the secretary through the maze of bullet-proof, glass fronted offices.

He could have found his way there by himself though. He had always been good at taking note of where he was going and learning how to navigate himself around places.

All around Alex were the normal sounds and goings on he would expect to find in a normal office; the loud click of the receptionist's shoes, phones ringing and people bustling past with wads of documents held tight against their chests. Even this close to MI6's heart, it still kept up the façade of a normal work place. But of course, as well as handling top-secret information, normal things really did have to happen here. Someone had to go make the tea and coffee after all.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

Soon they reached a familiar plain black door. The receptionist opened it and informed the occupants of the room beyond that 'Mr Rider' had arrived and then left, giving Alex a quick glance as she passed him. She didn't like seeing Alex there. It wasn't her job to ask questions, but she couldn't help wondering why a teenager kept coming back here, to the head-quarters of MI6. It unnerved her.

Alex stepped into Mr Blunt's office, closing the door behind himself with a 'snick'.

'Ah, Alex. How nice of you to join us,' Mr Blunt said without looking up from a report he was studying over the top of this wire-framed glasses. Alex fought back the urge to reply scathingly. He'd made it sound as though Alex had randomly decided to visit him at a rather awkward time. Instead he merely gave a small, tight nod of his head in acknowledgement.

Alex briefly caught the eye of Mrs Jones who was, as always, standing behind Mr Blunt and to his right. She gave him what she probably thought was a reassuring smile, but it didn't quite have the right effect on Alex. If Tulip Jones felt the need to try and reassure him, things really must be bad. As hard as he tried, meeting Mrs Jones' eyes was still hard. He had tried to kill her at one point after all. She might appear to have decided to let it slide, but Alex still felt a prickle of shame in his stomach whenever he thought about what he had tried to do.

After a few, awkward moments of silence it became clear that Mr Blunt was not about to start the conversation. Alex felt a stab of annoyance, but fought to keep it out of his voice as he asked brusquely, 'You wanted to see me?'

Mr Blunt paused and slowly laid the folder he'd been studying back down onto his desk.

'Yes,' he replied simply.

Without waiting to find out if he had more to say, Alex blurted out, 'Is what Crawley said, true?'

Finally the head of MI6 looked up at him, his eyebrows raised slightly. 'No doubt he's said many things. How am I supposed to know if any of them are true or not?' His voice was infuriatingly calm and off hand.

Alex's hands balled into loose fists at his sides as he replied, 'You know what I mean. About you stopping using me.' Alex swore he saw Mr Blunt silently mouth the words back to himself, as though he was an English teacher mocking him for the poorly phrased sentence.

He had only been here a minute or two, but already Alex wanted to kill someone. Namely Alan Blunt.

Perhaps suspecting how Alex was feeling, Mrs Jones decided to be the one to finally give him his answer. 'Our new Prime Minister has decided he doesn't like the idea of a teenager working for MI6.'

Alex muttered under his breath something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Hear, hear,' before asking, 'So why am I here then? You could have just told me this over the phone.' There was a slightly venomous edge to his voice now.

This time it was boss of MI6 who spoke. 'The Prime Minister has agreed with us, quite reluctantly, that we need you one last time. After this we will never recruit you as a minor again.'

Alex hated the self satisfied smile that curled ever so slightly at the man's thin lips. It didn't take a genius to work out that his words meant that Alex wasn't free forever. In a year's time when he was sixteen they would probably ensnare him again, or if not then, when he was eighteen, or at the latest, twenty-one. But he would be ready to face up to them then once and for all, Alex promised himself.

Still in that frame of mind, he asked carefully. 'And what would happen if I refused this mission? Would you just leave me alone?' He very much doubted the answer would be yes, but it was always worth a try.

'No…'  _ Damn. ' _ These orders come from the very top. You can't refuse them. You know from past experience what sorts of things are likely to happen if you try. Anyway, all you need to do is complete this one simple mission for us and you'll be free from us...' 

__ For now _ _ , Alex finished in his head.

He reviewed his options in his head. It didn't take long. As much as he hated to, Alex sighed in defeat and enquired, 'What is it this time? Has a cat burglar stolen the crown jewels? Are Martians invading the USA? Or are mutant bunny rabbits taking over Europe?'

Alex could have sworn Mrs Jones smiled just slightly at his words. The head of MI6 simply ignored his flippant remarks altogether. He picked up the file in front of him, the one he'd been reading earlier, and flicked through it.

'All over the world there are new reports of missing people on a daily bases. There are also many more disappearances that go unreported altogether. People who are living on the streets or who otherwise have no fixed address are especially vulnerable to this. Often, they either have no one who cares enough to report their disappearance, or they were already classed as missing in the first place. So when these 'missing' people, actually do go missing, it can often be hard to spot.'

Alex shook his head in confusion and interrupted, 'I don't understand what you're getting at here.'

Mrs Jones stepped in to explain the situation plainly to him. 'In the last couple of months, a lot of people living homeless on the streets of England's major cities, especially London, have been going missing. As Mr Blunt has said, people going missing is not at all uncommon, but the sheer number is worrying. It's hard to tell just how many homeless people have being going missing in the last couple of months. And we suspect it may have been happening on this scale for much longer than that, but because most of these people have already fallen off the government's radar, we just don't know for sure.' Mrs Jones paused and the slightly disgruntled head of MI6 took the chance to continue outlining the problem to Alex.

'Yes, and unfortunately, the police often don't pay all that much attention to a homeless person complaining that someone they know has gone missing. They still record it of course, most of the time, but it's the sort of thing that tends to not get looked into very often. Or at least, that was the case until some of the reported missing started to turn up. Dead.'

__ Dun, dun, dun! The plot thickens…  _ _ Alex thought to himself. Though, as much as he would hate to admit it, he was intrigued by what he was being told. Not that that meant he wanted to get involved in any crazy plans they had involving him.

'At first it was just one body, then more started to turn up. Some had been dead for a long time, others had been partially cremated. Many where found simply discarded in back alleys. Though the method of disposal has varied dramatically, nearly all were missing people found with similar...' He trailed off briefly, as though choosing his next words carefully.

'...Odd wounds. We suspect either a group of people have taken it upon themselves to try and rid the streets of the homeless, or that a sort of would-be cult is killing them as part of some twisted ritual or other. We want you…'

_ 'Ah, here it comes…' Alex muttered under his breath. _

'…to pose as a teenager who has recently run away from home and ended up on the streets. You'll ask around, see if any of the other homeless have seen anything suspicious or know people who have gone missing and try and see if you can find out who's behind all this.'

Here Mr Blunt stopped. He leant forward on his black leather swivel chair, put his elbows on his posh mahogany desk and clasped his hands together as though in prayer. Perhaps he was. Was there a saint of MI6 bosses he could be beseeching to for help? Or was he praying to God that Alex would agree to help them? Somehow he couldn't see Alan Blunt as much of a God-fearing man. Here at the heart of MI6, he practically was the God of his own little world anyway, why bother with another?

Alex narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a second. 'Why me? Why not some other agent?'

'You would not be the first agent we have put on this case. Three others have tried to get to the bottom of this. One was killed in the same way as many others were and the other two are out there still but have found out nothing at all.'

'Yes. But still, why me?'

'What Mr Blunt didn't mention,' Mrs Jones replied, 'Is that as well as being homeless, most of the victims were under thirty and many of them were just teenagers. The agent who died was twenty-six. The other two are in their forties.'

'So you figured that since I'm 'just a teenager'…'

'Oh no, never 'just a teenager'…' Mr Blunt interrupted, speaking the words quietly, as though to himself.

Mildly disconcerted, Alex changed tack slightly. 'Right, umm, but I mean, since I'm a teenager, you think that will mean I'm more likely to get attacked, and that way, if I survive, I will be able to tell you what's going on?'

'Yes.'

_Well that was reassuring._

'We have a background story written up for you already.'

'Of course you do…' Alex said with barely-concealed contempt.

As usual Mr Blunt ignored the remark. 'Those living on the streets usually have problematic pasts that they don't want to talk about themselves, so it's unlikely anyone will interrogate you much about it. However, you still need a cover story.'

At this Mrs Jones walked over and handed him an envelope. He wondered vaguely where it had been before she gave it to him. He definitely hadn't spotted it out anywhere before hand.

'This contains everything you need to know.' She told him before walking back to her usual place behind the head of MI6, standing there like either the angel or the devil who whispered things in his ears. Alex wasn't sure which.

'A nondescript car will arrive at your house at 11 AM on Monday morning. Make sure you've memorized the file by then.'

Alex nodded reluctantly. It was Saturday today; he still had plenty of time to go through it. And it wasn't as though it was a very thick envelope…

'Oh yes, and one last thing before you go, make sure you see Smithers before you leave.'

With that Alan Blunt pulled the file he had been looking at originally back in front of him and resumed flicking through it as though Alex wasn't even there.

With a mutter of, 'I'll see my self out then…' He slouched out the room; closing the door a little harder then he had planned to behind himself. It was only once he had started moving again that he realised that at no one point had he actually agreed to all this. Once again he had ended up with another stupid mission.

__ At least this is the last time…  _ _ Alex told himself, trying to feel upbeat about it but failing.

Once the door slammed shut Alan Blunt looked up from his papers and Mrs Jones spoke up. 'Why didn't we use Agent Ward? He's only twenty four and probably had as much chance of running into the murderers as Alex does.'

'Yes.' Blunt agreed, 'But though Alex might be much younger then Ward, I suspect he would have a much higher chance of surviving this then Ward would. But then of course, you have always had a soft spot for the boy, haven't you?'

Taking no notice of Mrs Jones spluttered reply, he continued, 'this will be his last mission, remember? The new Prime Minister is far too scared of the truth about Alex reaching the public's ears to allow us to use him again.' It was clear from his voice he felt nothing but contempt for the man.

'Until he's sixteen…' Tulip Jones sighed.

'Until he's sixteen,' Mr Blunt confirmed grimly.

 


	2. Gadgets

Alex Rider smiled to himself, feeling a little glimmer of pride at how easily he had managed to find Smithers' office by himself. Sure, there had been someone following him at a discreet distance the whole time to make sure he didn't go anywhere he wasn't supposed to, but it was his good memory and sense of direction that had led him to the right place.

He raised his right fist and lightly tapped on the door. There was no response.

Was Smithers somewhere else then, not in his office? But surely someone would have warned him that Alex would be paying him a visit?

Alex knocked harder, but once again there was no reply. He waited a moment, wondering if he should go ask someone for help. He glanced up and down the corridor he was in. No sign of anyone, not even the man who had been keeping an eye on him.

There was always a chance that Smithers was in there but simply hadn't heard Alex's knocks…

With a sigh, Alex did the inevitable and tried the door handle. It wasn't locked and as he pushed the door gently open, he froze like an urban fox caught in the sudden dazzling light of a torch.

The door opened, not to the office as he had expected, but onto a tropical rainforest.

For a second Alex was completely disoriented. A quick glance behind him showed the same nondescript cream wall that had been there the last time he looked. Cautiously, crouching slightly in preparation for fight or flight, Alex stepped lightly into the office-jungle.

Immediately, he found himself in a small clearing, surrounded by all sorts of foreign looking tropical plants. He could hear the sounds of the rainforest as well, from the chirrups and calls of a multitude of different insects, to the distant cry of what might have been a monkey, or perhaps a bird.

'Hello?' Alex whispered, then, feeling annoyed with himself at that, he said it again but louder. Without moving from where he was, he turned this way and that, trying to spot Smithers, or anyone at all for that matter. Every few seconds he looked back through the open door, just to reassure himself that he was still in the head quarters of MI6. Or at least, by all rights, that Alex should be.

Just when he was thinking of retreating back out of there, a strange thing happened.

Smithers' head suddenly appeared. Just his head, nothing else. It was a lot lower down then he would have expected too, about chest height. Alex stared at him in amazement and in relief as well. At least he had found the person he was looking for, even if it under strange circumstances. Not that Smithers was the sort of person to do things in a normal way…

'Hello old chap,' The Gadget Master boomed in his usual jovial fashion. 'How are you?'

'Umm...a little confused to be honest…' Alex confessed, shrugging his shoulders and looking around to try and show that it was the whole leafy vegetation thing that was puzzling him.

Smithers smile grew wider. 'Touch a leaf.'

Though Alex knew Smithers would never intentionally hurt him, he still hesitated a moment before reaching out to touch the nearest plant. To Alex's surprise, his hand went straight through it. He waved his hand up and down through it several times, just to check that his first impression had been correct. Every time his hand slipped through what appeared to be a perfectly solid bit of foliage without the slightest resistance. Alex grinned. 'What is all this? A hologram?'

'Something like that,' the older man's head agreed, nodding. 'Top secret though, so I couldn't possibly show you it or tell you how it works.' He winked at that.

Then his head moved slightly to the side and a second later, Alex heard something go 'click' and then hum slightly before the tropical plant life around him flickered out of existence, taking its jungle noises with it.

In just a moment, Smithers office returned to being just that; an office. All that was left of the greenery was two large plot pants in the middle of a large desk. Smithers was sitting at the desk, peering through the plants. Now that all the fake ones had gone, Alex was able to see the large rounded shoulders and torso of the man sitting there so he no longer looked like a disembodied head.

The Gadget's Man straightened up, and with a grunt, put the plants on the floor next to his desk before turning back to Alex, still beaming up at him.

'So what did you think of that? Was it convincing?'

'It was brilliant!' Alex replied in genuine awe, 'I really thought I had ended up in a rainforest for a second there!' He didn't mention that it had all reminded him a little too much of the real life version of Feathered Serpents that he had once been forced to play. Some of the parts of that game had had similar settings, though they had been done with prosthetics mainly, not illusions.

'Of course, the lighting is all wrong in here and so is the humidity…' Smithers mused to himself. 'But that could be easily fixed.'

Alex nodded vaguely in agreement.

Then the rather over weight man leaned forward slightly and changed tact, 'Anyway, we're not here to talk about that little invention of mine, but __gadgets__.' Smithers could make the word 'gadgets' sound like some sort of holy relic or mysterious treasure.

'I heard you were going to be living on the streets for a while,' He continued, 'meaning I couldn't exactly give you a Nintendo or I-Pod, now could I?' Despite the fact that this made prefect, logical sense, Alex still found himself feeling slightly disappointed.

'I had to work with things that were a bit more basic…step back will you, my boy?'

Alex did so, retreating hastily away from nothing in particular.

Smithers put a hand under his desk and flicked a switch, causing the solid front section of his big, tinted glass and silver desk to slide smoothly forward. Smithers used the edge of the desk to propel his large bulk and the swivel chair beneath it, backwards slightly, before reaching into a pocket and bringing out a small remote-control. With practised ease he used it to make the swivel chair sidle around the desk, to the side of the large compartment that had just opened up from under it.

Alex watched as the other man reached towards the large slide-out compartment. It had a solid black top that didn't appear to have any sort of visible handle to it. Somehow though, Alex wasn't so surprised when Smithers' arm appeared to melt straight through it. Another illusion.

'Now lets see what we've got for you…Aha!' Smithers pulled his arm out, holding in his podgy hands a small white plate covered in... 'Biscuits!'

'Biscuits?' Alex stared at them warily. He knew by now not to underestimate anything the Gadget Master showed him, even if it was something as simple as these. What would they do? Explode? Send messages back to MI6? Track his location? They looked harmless enough, circular, plain on one side, covered in chocolate on the other. They looked pretty generic to Alex, until he spotted the loopy writing on the plain side, saying 'Smithers'. So they were definitely something to do with the man in front of him…

When the plate was thrust under his nose, he couldn't help flinching slightly, which made Smithers chuckle. 'Go on, take one, they're quite safe and very tasty, if I do say so my self.'

Under Smithers' watchful eye, Alex reached out and picked one up. Its texture was normal to the touch, its smell was normal, its weight was normal (not that Alex was an expert on biscuit weights), and after a tentative bite, he discovered it tasted perfectly normal as well.

'Gum arn they?' Alex looked up at Smithers, who was trying to talk despite a mouthful of biscuits.

'I'm sorry,' There was a pause while the gadgets man swallowed. 'Good aren't they?'

'Ah, yes. But what do they do?'

'Well, despite looking perfectly normal, just five of these biscuits are enough food to last a grown man all day. Sure, you would be a little hungry when you go to bed, but you could live off these successfully for years. They have everything your body needs to operate properly, packed into a couple of mouthfuls of food. You'll need water though, they certainly can make you thirsty by the tenth or so… Anyway, we originally designed them to try and end world hunger, but unfortunately it turns out they are just too rich, the poor under-nourished little children's bodies just couldn't cope with them and their parents fared little better, so we're back to the drawing board on that one I'm afraid.'

At that, Smithers put the plate down on his desk and leaned forward in his chair. 'Luckily for you though, your digestive system should have no problem dealing with the biscuits, and if you're going to be living on the streets for a while, you're going to need all the food you can get! There are certain tablets you could use of course, but three or four packets of biscuits stuffed into a back-pack are much less conspicuous then a dozen super-tablets that haven't yet been released to the general public.'

'No, I can't imagine many homeless people carrying those around,' Alex agreed dryly.

'So biscuits it is!'

He reached under the illusion and brought out five packets of biscuits, which he then dumped on Alex's lap. Picking one up, Alex could see that though it was clearly a made up brand with Smithers name on it, even the packaging itself looked just like that of any other brand,with just enough differences to stop them breaking copyright laws.

He turned the packet over and studied the underside. The ingredients list and all the nutritional information required by law was there, though Alex had a feeling that if they were as amazing as Smithers claimed, the information must have been faked. Though just a small thing, Alex bet that even less significant things had led to spies being caught out in the past, and he certainly didn't want that to happen to him. Again.

'Right, next, sleeping bag and clothes.' Once again he stuck his hand through what appeared to be perfectly solid tinted black glass, this time pulling out several items.

'This,' Smithers held up a bulging compact black bag, 'is the latest in sleeping bag technology. Its filling, while no thicker then normal, well exceeds the insulating abilities of all other makes. It regulates your body temperature and stops you freezing or over heating in conditions twelve times more extreme then Dupant Thermolite Micro can manage. Everything is covered in a layer of our latest improvements on Gore-Tex, making the sleeping bag waterproof but perfectly breathable, and the outside is made of a tight weave with nanotubes incorporated into the design.'

Alex nodded vaguely as though he was following; his class had been told about Gore-Tex in Year 9 science but couldn't remember much about it, and he had never heard of Dupant Thermo-whatever, but he thought he might have come across the word 'nanotubes' somewhere before…in connection to nanoparticles perhaps? Hadn't Scorpia used nanotechnology to try and kill all the children in England?

Alex was distracted from his train of thought when the black pack was thrust into his arms, quickly followed by several items of clothing, 'Um, what **—** '

Smithers answered the question before Alex even got the chance to finish asking it.

'You'll need these to look the part. Luckily for you, Alex, your cover story is that you're new to living on the streets, so you're allowed perfectly clean clothes to wear, at least to start with. You won't be able to carry around more than a couple of changes of clothes with you as anymore would just be too bulky. These clothes are pretty ordinary looking, nothing designer or particularly fashionable of course, but they will keep you warm and repel grime to a certain extent, but living on the streets for any length of time will unfortunately lead to an unavoidable slip in hygiene levels, of course.'

Alex rolled his eyes, 'Great.' But he had lived through similar situations before when he'd been sent to investigate the Snakeheads in India, so he was sure he would be able to cope, even if he would much rather just stay clean.

'Both pairs of trousers have a tracker system implanted in them. I was going to implant one in the sleeping bag instead, but it was decided that trousers are less likely to be stolen.'

Then Smithers leant back once more and fished out a slightly tattered looking skiing coat. 'We went for the whole 'Worn but reliable' look here, but make sure you keep your hands on this jacket, it contains the only weapon I was able to get away with, as well as being as knife resistant as we could get it in the circumstances…'

Which Alex took to mean, ' _if you get stabbed it will probably still kill you, and hurt like hell even if it doesn't.'_

'It's also capable of sending out a strong electrical pulse into anyone who might come into contact with it. So, if you're in a fight, make sure you're wearing this coat. The way it works is, you see this little button here?' He pointed to what looked like the rubber covering of a button that fastened up a small pocket, on it was a small logo engraved in the shape of a lightning bolt, just the sort of thing other skiing jackets had that usually referred to its make.

'It's fingerprint sensitive. If it ends up somehow swivelling around as you move, nothing will happen. If you move it around slightly clockwise though, it will give anyone who touches the coat an electric shock. The further you turn it, the worse the shock. Careful though, it can be turned up high enough to possibly kill someone if you use all its power up in one go. Whatever happens, it won't hurt you though, you're safely insulated inside it. That said though, some of my lab technicians did report some rather nasty static shocks off of it… But I'm sure you'll be fine!'

With that, Smithers dumped the coat on top of the other clothes and reached through the hologram one last time. 'And finally we have the bag you'll need.' It was a battered looking back-pack, the type a lot of people used in school, especially the younger students, despite the fact that the bags tended to completely dwarf them.

'It contains a high-powered torch, some first aid equipment like plasters and bandages, a bit of money, a couple of bottles of water, enough room for all your clothes, and…ah, yes! And a mobile phone. The phones' history, saved text messages, dates and pictures all match up with your assumed identity.'

He handed over the rucksack and Alex stuffed the clothes into it, along with the envelope Mrs Jones had given him containing his cover story.

There wasn't room for the sleeping bag, but the little black shell it went in had a long cord attached that he could tie onto a thick loop of plastic attached to the bag for just that reason.

Sitting back, Smithers tried to think of anything else he needed to give the young spy.

'I think that's everything…' He mused to himself, and then coming to the conclusion that that was right, he clapped his hands together and said more loudly, 'Yes, that's everything I've got to give you my boy, hope you get a chance to try out the new I-Phone I've created on your next mission. I've named it the SpI-Phone and it's certainly got the apps to live up to the name…'

Alex didn't have the heart to tell him that, hopefully, this would be his last ever mission, and simply shook his hand in farewell, said his goodbyes and left with his gadgets, though he felt that super-duper thermal underwear didn't exactly count as a 'gadget' at all.

  
  



	3. Those That Care

'So?' Alex had barely stepped in the door before Jack ran through from the kitchen to question him.

He sighed and dumped the items Smithers had given him down on the floor. As he straightened back up, he answered, 'They promised to let me go…' A hopeful look flickered across Jack's face. '…After one more mission.'

Jack didn't know what to say, she felt torn in two. On the one hand, one more mission and he was free! Never to be harmed again, kept here safe where she could always, always watch over him.

On the other, they were using him, again. Another mission, from which he would return, scarred both physically and mentally - if he returned at all, that was. Jack wouldn't put it past those heartless bastards to send him off on a mission even more dangerous than any before, just because it was their one last chance to.

Alex could guess pretty much what was going on in her head, and as if to try and make it seem a little better in some way, he blurted out, 'I'm not even leaving London this time!'

Curious despite herself, Jack asked, 'What mess has the government got themselves into here at home that you need to solve? Don't tell me, the Prime Ministers' forgotten how to tie his shoe laces…' Her hands rose to rub at her eyes as she stifled her true emotions behind a comment that was as sarcastic as it was bitter.

'Nothing to do with the government. Hopefully… All I need to do is pose as a homeless person for…' He paused, 'Actually, they never told me how long it was going to be for. Probably for as long takes for me to run into lots of trouble…' Alex's voice was dull and resigned.

Jack muttered what sounded to Alex like a string of swearwords aimed at MI6, before slowly letting her hands run down her face like tears, and then drop limply to her sides. 'But it's your last ever mission, right? They really promised to leave you alone after this?'

Alex nodded, 'Yeah, last mission __ever__.' He put extra emphasis on ever, as though savouring just how long that one word indicated.

Sure, there was a large chance that MI6 would snatch him up again as soon as he left compulsory education at the age of sixteen, or perhaps a few years later, but he pushed that depressing thought aside. There was no need to tell Jack his suspicions. Alex didn't want to hurt her anymore, if the thought of him never having to be blackmailed into working for the government again after this gave her some sort of comfort, he was loath to take it away again.

Jack seemed to have quickly adjusted to the fact that he was being sent out into danger one more time; by now, she had almost gotten used to the prospect. Didn't make it any easier though, watching him go. Neither did clucking about him like a mother hen, but she just couldn't help it sometimes, he had been her charge and close friend for so long, and if she didn't mother him a bit, who else would?

'Aren't you going to get cold, sleeping rough?'

'Smithers gave me specialised clothes and a sleeping bag, they'll keep me warm. Anyway, It's been pretty warm so far for May.'

'But what about at night?'

'Like I said, specialised stuff.' Here, Alex shrugged slightly, waving his hand in the general direction of the items on the floor that the Gadget Master had given him.

'Won't you get hungry?'

'No, I'll be fine! Anyway, hungers not so bad.' He hated how dramatic and falsely macho the words sounded to him. 'I mean, Smithers gave me some super-duper-last-a-whole-day-on-one-crumb-biscuits.'

Jack laughed. 'Right, so lets get this straight, MI6 is sending you out into the streets of London…with high-tech cookies! Well, isn't that jolly good?'

Half way through, Jack's voice morphed into a sarcastic, over the top, version of the stereotypical posh English accent.

In return, Alex put on an exaggerated American accent, 'Yeh, that's right dude.'

They continued like that for several minutes, forgetting their worries as they teased each other good naturedly. They soon branched out, Alex having a go at imitating a Yorkshire man, 'I walked t' dog t' park an back again.' While Jack attempted Australian. She didn't get very far with it though, and ended up doubled up with laughter after a couple of sentences.

It was only when she almost tripped over the black bag lying on the floor that they were both brought back to the matter at hand.

Alex sighed. 'Guess I better go drop this stuff off in my room…I've got a file to read on who I'm supposed to be anyway…'

The laughter of a moment ago forgotten, Jack nodded gravely. 'But if you have time, could you go through that old box of stuff that was in the hallway cupboard? I put it in your room, it's about time you decided what you want to keep in there and what we can throw away. Most of it's just old school work. We could do with the storage room it's taking up.'

'Sure.' Alex answered as he made his way up the stairs.

Once in his room, with its tattered football posters on the walls, its black duvet covered bed and its mad tangle of wires in the corner that connected up to his Playstation 2, X-Box, TV and DVD player, he dumped the black bag onto the blue carpeted floor.

The box Jack had mentioned was at the foot of his bed. It was see-through with a blue lid. Though Alex knew MI6 would want him to start reading up on his character profile, he decided he would much rather go through the box. Kneeling down on the carpet he lifted the lid off. At the top were his school books from last year. He wasn't entirely sure why he had kept them, but flicked through a couple anyway. They both had an unusual amount of pages left blank at the end and after a while the dates started to jump forward erratically between some of the entries. It was a testimony to all the work he had missed because of his 'job'.

With a sigh Alex dropped the books onto what was going to be his 'bin' pile.

About half the box was boring school books, though one from Year 8 caught his eye. It was larger then the others with a smooth black cover and his name on a sticky label in the corner. Alex recognised it as his old art book from the days in which he had done the subject. It had been fun messing round in art with Tom and his other friends, but he had no artistic talent to speak of and so hadn't chosen it as one of his options.

Looking at it brought back some interesting memories, especially the sheet of paper that fell out from the middle.

On it was a beautifully done pencil sketch of his own face, rounder then it was now, and with shorter hair, but still with the same serious look to it.

Alex allowed his mind to wander back to the day it had been drawn.

They had been set the task of getting into pairs and drawing a portrait of their partner. Alex had teamed up with Tom and the two of them had had fun laughing at each other's appalling attempts at art. Tom's had been even worse then Alex's, more like a messy-haired gorilla then anything else.

On seeing it their art teacher had had a rant, though he couldn't remember now exactly what she had said, something about cheek bones perhaps…

In the end she had got so worked up about it, she had forced Alex to sit still while she had a go at drawing him. Though his face had burned with embarrassment at being singled out by his teacher, he had had to admit that the product at the end of the half-hour left of the lesson, had been pretty incredible. Alex wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up taking it home, but looking at it now brought up a bitter-sweet feeling inside him. It was like looking back on a far-away, care-free time, one that he could never return to.

Without really thinking about it, he carefully placed down the book and the sheet of paper as the start of his 'to keep' pile.

Below his Year 7 stuff (all of which he promptly threw away), he found some toys from his childhood he had completely forgotten about.

There were a couple of small, portable board games, a jigsaw puzzle, a broken yo-yo, two bouncy balls, a squished metal slinky, a plastic cricket bat and countless blunt wax and pencil crayons that were all unceremoniously dumped on the rubbish pile.

There were a couple of things he decided to keep though.

One was a rather random little badge which he had found safety pinned to the slinky. It was pale blue with the slogan, 'Some people are like slinkies - pretty useless, but fun to push down the stairs', written in black. For some reason this amused Alex, and though he had no idea where it had come from, he decided to pin it to the back-pack Smithers had given to him.

The other thing was a midnight blue teddy bear. He couldn't remember who had given it him, and in fact, he had completely forgotten it even existed. But the scuffed little teddy with Alex's name embroidered in looping silver writing on its chest, had been around all his life. Or at least it felt like that. And for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. He felt stupid even admitting it to himself. How could he, Alex Rider, teenage super spy, go all weak and sentimental over a toy that he had no idea of where it had come from? Maybe sometime he would ask Jack if she knew where it had come from, but not now.

With the box fully emptied he shoved the art book and teddy bear under his bed and headed off downstairs to get a bin bag for all the things he was getting rid of.

In the kitchen he bumped into Jack crying.

With a smile, he asked, 'Have you been chopping up onions?'

Blinking furiously, she said, 'How did you know?'

'Well the vegetable knife you're holding covered in bits of onion was a giveaway.' Alex nodded his head towards the counter Jack was standing several paces away from. On top of it was a cutting board with a couple of onions on it, one half cut up. 'So were the onions.'

Jack smiled. 'I guess it wouldn't take a teenage spy to work that out.' At that, the smile faltered slightly.

'Just remember, one more mission and then we can celebrate it all being over by going to Pizza Hut or something.'

'What about having a party? I could get some 'Happy retirement balloons!''

'Stop it, you're making me feel old! Anyway, it would be a pretty lame party, just you and me.'

'And Tom.'

'Oh yes, and Tom.'

 _ _Talking about Tom, I better see if he ever texted me back...__ Alex thought to himself as he fished out a large black bin bag from one of the kitchen cupboard.

He had. There were several texts waiting for Alex, asking him how the meeting with MI6 had gone, if he was really going to stop being a spy and if Alex had given Mr Blunt a punch in the face from him as he had asked Alex to do.

He texted back, telling Tom what had happened, and that, no, he hadn't punched him…yet.

He had better E-mail Sabina soon, and repeat the whole thing to her as well. Oh well, at least he had people who cared that much about him. Pity MI6 didn't…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things actually start to happen in the next chapter, I promise.


	4. And Those That Don't

Alex was cold and hungry. Sure, he had survived much worse but that didn't stop him being any less miserable. Leaning against the outside wall of a shop in a busy street, he reflected that after four days of living on the streets, he was no closer to achieving, well, anything, than he had been when he started out.

He was also extremely bored. He had spent most of the time since he had left home, wondering around the busy streets of London.

Most of the time nobody paid any attention to him, and he preferred it that way. Just one among thousands of people whose busy little lives crossed paths without them even realising it.

It was natural for someone who was both a spy and a great believer in staying alive to avoid being noticed, but it went deeper then that. There was also the fact that he wasn't really homeless, just sort of pretending to be. It seemed incredible to Alex that others couldn't see the spiky, crackling aura around him that was the repeated mantra of, ' _ _Don't look at me with scorn, don't look at my with sympathy, I'm not really homeless__ _,_ _ _I don't need your contempt, I don't need your help! Don't look at me like that!'__

There was guilt as well. Despite the fact his pride had refused to allow him to start begging, a couple of people had pressed coins into his hand, much to Alex's surprise. There were so many other people who needed the money more then him… It didn't stop Alex pocketing the money all the same. Smithers' biscuits were all well and good, but who knew how long they would last? The same applied to small handful of crushed ten and five pound notes that he had been provided with.

Though he had spent a time slumming it before, that time it had been with Ash. Even if he had turned out to be a traitor, he had been someone to turn to. Here, in the city of London, his home, he had no one.

Alex had also been worried about the fact that someone he knew might notice him, but this was the other side of London, and pretending to be homeless pretty much made him invisible to the masses, a mark on their otherwise perfect little lives. And anyway, even if someone recognised him, Alex could always feign ignorance and perhaps put on a different accent to add to the lie. Thinking of accents reminded him of Jack. It was funny really, leaning against the hard brick wall with nothing better to do, Alex's thoughts kept coming back to a small number subjects. One was Jack, Tom and Sabina, the people he knew would be worrying about him. Another was MI6's too-good-to-be-true promise. There was Ash as well, and for some odd reason, Yassen. Alex hated thinking about either of them. One was the long lost family link who had betrayed them all, the other his father's friend, but his uncles assassin. A murderer. An evil man, and yet one who had died because he refused to kill Alex. God, people were so complicated!

And just when he felt as though he was drowning in dark memories, Alex's concentration would flicker back to the present. He had been working as a spy for a year and two or three months now, and at some point during that time he seemed to have subconsciously realised that daydreaming was an unhealthy habit for teenage spies who actually wanted to live. So though he now had a lot to daydream (Or should that be daymare?) about, he rarely indulged.

 _ _Urgh. I thought it was supposed to be Spring! Or Summer…__ Alex couldn't quite remember which early May was classed as. _But which ever it was, he was sure the weather is supposed to be nicer then this. Then again, this is England…_ He pulled the zip on his coat a little higher. Though a rather boring gadget, Alex had to admit the coat worked. Despite looking thin, it kept his torso and arms warm. Pity he didn't have anything that could warm up his face. Alex was also regretting forgetting to bring gloves with him. Especially at night.

The nights were much worse then the days. Alex had slept rough in London three times now and amazingly, he was still alive. That is, he hadn't frozen to death yet or been murdered by some psychopath or other.

The first night he had slept on the steps of a bank. Ironic, yes, and it hadn't exactly been a good night's sleep. He had only slept for about half an hour due to the fact that the cold and apprehension had kept him awake, when he was chased off by a rather unpleasant security guard. Alex had been rather tempted to swing round and kick him hard in the gut for all the things he was yelling, but knew it wouldn't be worth it.

By the second night he had been exhausted and had ended up trying to sleep in a children's park, underneath some apparatuses. It smelt of cigarettes but at least there was no broken glass on the ground from smashed bottles of alcohol. It was eleven o'clock before the place was finally abandoned by the sort of teenagers who thought they were as cool as it got because they skipped school and took drugs. Chances were they were off to try and get into some club or other. Alex very much doubted they had left because it was their bed time.

Despite the cold and discomfort, Alex soon dropped off to sleep. Though he woke up a couple of times during the night, he had a much better night than the one before.

On the third evening he had returned nervously to the park, but ended up abandoning it after a couple of hours when a small-time dealer came along and tried offering him drugs. It had been obvious from the way he had talked that he targeted the homeless, giving them drugs for cheap until they were hooked and he had complete control. Then he could get them to do what ever he wanted; steal, mug people or work as prostitutes in order to get their next fix.

There was no way in hell Alex was going to start on drugs, something he told the man, but the idiot hadn't taken no for an answer.

It was then that Alex had snapped, pushing the drug dealer away, and then when he retaliated, Alex let him have it. The fight was short and one-sided, the dealer never stood a chance. Alex left him unconscious and missing several sachets of a mysterious white powder. Dropping the drugs into a random bin, Alex had decided it would be best to avoid that particular park in future.

He had ended up sleeping behind one of the many Tesco shops dotted around the city in their constant war with the other big chains like Asda and Morrisons.

No one had disturbed him there.

It was starting to get late. Alex had been leaning against the shop wall for so long that he felt as though he had almost forgotten how to move. Pealing himself away from the brick, he walked along the high street aimlessly until he had worked out all the stiffness in his muscles. Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets in an attempt to warm them up slightly, and pulled his hood up.

After only few seconds though, he pushed it back down. It restricted his vision too much, making him feel jumpy and vulnerable.

After a couple of hours wondering round, he retired to the alley behind Tesco's again. He had only been there a short time though, when someone else joined him.

Looking out of the corner of his eye, Alex watched the stranger pull a grimy looking sleeping bag out of a white tattered plastic bag. It was obvious that he had been living on the streets quite a while, his clothes were in need of a wash, and his hair likewise. What Alex could glimpse of his skin looked pretty clean though, like he still made as much of an effort to stay clean as he could.

Perhaps this was Alex's chance to try and find out more about the mysterious disappearances! But first he needed an ice breaker…

'Want a biscuit?' Alex held out a half empty packet of Smithers' biscuits.

The stranger looked surprised, and slowly leaned over, as though afraid it was a trick and that Alex would whip the food out of reach at the last minute.

Despite the bad light, Alex saw that the other man was actually not that much older then Alex himself, eighteen or nineteen at the most. He had long brown hair and bright blue eyes, which watched the biscuits warily until he had finally got hold of one. Upon finding out that the offer of food, however small, wasn't a trick after all, he had smiled and said, 'Thanks mate. Fag?'

Alex shook his head and replied simply, 'Don't smoke.' The other teenager laughed, 'You will soon, mate, if yer stick around long enough. Stops yer from gettin' as hungry and gives you somethin' to take your mind off things.'

As he pulled out a battered packet of cigarettes and a lighter from one of his pockets, he continued, 'But just don't do drugs, mate. I've seen way too many people start on 'em and end up ruining their lives. Well, ruining them even more…'

He wolfed down the biscuit, before lighting a cigarette and staring at the packet in Alex's hand. Rolling his eyes, the spy took the hint and passed it over. 'Keep it. I've got some more.'

'Oh, thanks mate!' And he really did sound as though he meant it, as though being given a packet of biscuits had made his life. Alex was starting to relax a little more now. It didn't look as though the stranger was malevolent, in fact, it seemed as though he was enjoying having someone else to talk to.

'The drug dealers can get real nasty too; yer should have seen what they did to a mate of mine! He ended up in hospital. Said it made a nice change to sleep on a bed and get a proper wash though, but the food was rubbish!'

Alex listened passively to his friendly banter, glad of the company.

'The names Blue by the way. Course, it's not my real name, that would be stupid.' He laughed. 'Hardly any one uses their real names though, knew a guy once who called himself Skunk. It was kind'a appropriate… What are you called then?'

Blue took a moment to have a proper look at the younger teen. As he had already guessed, it was clear that he was pretty new to the streets. Everything about him was a little too clean for someone who had been sleeping rough for very long. The boy had a serious look about him though. He looked like the kind of person who had had a pretty bad life so far, despite his slightly posh accent. Blue was good at spotting a survivor, and knew that this boy was definitely one.

He watched as the teenager smiled slightly to himself, as though thinking of a private joke, before he replied, 'Cub.' It was obvious from the way he said it that there was some sort of ironic meaning in the name.

Curious, Blue asked, 'What kind of cub?'

'Huh?'

'You know, wolf cub, fox cub…' He paused as he tried to think of any others.

To his surprise, a look of horror had crossed Cub's face. 'No! Neither of those, absolutely not, never!'

Perplexed, Blue said, 'What, don't yer like wolves and foxes or something?'

'I have no problems with the animals themselves…just….'

 _ _How best to put this?__ Alex wondered to himself. 'I used to know a couple of guys who used those names and I don't fancy being labelled as a younger version of them to be honest.'

'Okay, okay, there are other animals. Like, umm… Bears! Though you don't look much like a bear cub to me. What else… cheetah? Leopard? Dog? No, wait, that's puppies. What about Tigers? Yeah, they all have cubs, don't they? But what else…'

Alex tuned out slightly from Blue's musings as he glanced around, positive that he had heard some sort of noise. Something just felt weird… wrong… dangerous…

__This is stupid. I'm going to be saying my 'spy-der sense is tingling' next!_ _

Blue noticed nothing, and made him pay proper attention by loudly exclaiming, 'Lion!'

'Pardon?'

The other boy grinned at him, both with triumph and the fact that Alex had said something as polite as 'pardon' to him, instead of the usual, 'what the hell did you say?'

'You're a lion cub.' It was a statement that left no room for argument.

'Sure, whatever you say,' the young spy replied, shrugging his shoulders. At least lion was better then wolf…

It was about half an hour later, after much talk about how to survive on the streets, that Alex finally managed to bring up the subject that was the whole point of his mission.

'I knew someone who ran away from home a few months ago. Saw him a couple of times, and then he just disappeared. No one's seen him since. What do you think could have happened to him?'

The lie, of course, came easy.

Blue shrugged, unconcerned. 'Lots of things. He could have moved on to a new part of town. Might have just upped and left London all together. He could be lying low to keep out the police's way. Could just be bad luck that no one yer know has spotted him. Or he might have overdosed on something and died, or been kidnapped, or killed. Or just plain vanished. Anyone who lives on the streets knows at least one or two people who've been murdered or just never reappeared. And then of course there's books, like that Stone Cold, aren't there?'

Alex shrugged, not sure where this was going. 'Never heard about it.'

'And I've never read it myself, but apparently it's about some insane guy who goes round murdering homeless people in London to 'clean up the streets'. That sort of stuff is bound to give maniacs and psychos ideas…'

'Yeah,' Alex agreed absent-mindedly.

Soon the conversation left that grim topic as Blue told him why he had ended up on the streets. Turned out he had lived in an orphanage for most of his childhood after his heroin addict of a mother had died, only to run away from the childrens' home when he was twelve because he hated it so much. He had been living on the streets on and off since then.

Alex was glad he had taken the time to memorise the file MI6 had given him. Despite the fact they had seemed to think he wouldn't really need it, Alex found himself telling Blue the whole story. Alex was a good actor, capable of putting emotion and venom behind words that really meant nothing to him.

'… _And even though the bastard kept beating her up when he was drunk, she wouldn't leave him. In the end I couldn't stand it any more. Mum didn't seem to care he had been hurting me too, only that his job brought in more money. So I left…'_

Blue nodded to himself every now and then, as though he was hearing a part of Alex's story that matched up perfectly with what so many others had told him.

'If I was one of those do-gooders trying to get kids off the street, I would say, 'Are you really sure it was that bad? Have you thought of how much your mother must be worrying about you? And other crap like that.' He said it in an offhand, contemptuous way but it was clear he actually was wondering what the answers might be.

'Oh yeah, it was __that__ bad.'

A sudden thought occurred to Alex, a way to back up his story. Rebellion and anger flared up, aimed mostly at MI6. Well all he was doing was adding proof about his fake identity, right?

'I mean, look what he did.'

Despite the cold, he pulled the layers of clothing covering his stomach up high enough to expose some of the cuts and scars that decorated his body as mementoes of his past missions and innocent childhood accidents. Though the light was dim and Alex didn't let the small, white spider web like bullet wound show, Blue still let out a whistle and laughed in the sort of way people do when faced with something that makes them feel uncomfortable.

'Wow man, I can't blame you for running away!'

'Yeah, I'm better off away from it all, aren't I?' However it wasn't, his fake family that Alex was thinking of when he said that, but MI6.

  
  



	5. Oh Bloody, Bloody Hell

For the next week or so, Alex and Blue, by unspoken agreement, went off and did their own thing during the day, but returned around dusk behind the supermarket. Every night they heard the loud voices of the drunk and high as they staggered through the city, either in search of a good time or a place to throw up.

Blue, chatterbox that he was, was quick to voice his opinion on such people. Alex soon gathered that Blue hated pretty much every aspect of society, from the police,  _ 'Always looking at me like I'm planning to murder their grannies or about to give them fleas or something' _ , to babies, ' _ People always wanted to adopt babies, but what about all the older kids who need adopting, huh?' _

He never seemed to spot Alex's amused smile as he ranted on about one subject or another. Though to be fair, fate had dealt Blue a pretty crappy hand in life and he had plenty of reasons to complain about things. Alex enjoyed his company, even if his chattering did keep Alex up half the night, and he learnt a lot of tricks on how to survive living on the streets.

So, when one evening Blue never turned up, Alex sorely missed him. The night seemed darker, more ominous and threatening without him.

The first night Alex forced himself not to panic. What good would it do anyway? He had probably just caught up with a friend of his and lost track of the time. And it wasn't as though he had known Alex very long, perhaps he stayed with one person a couple of days before going off to make new friends. All the same, he struggled to fall asleep easier than usual, even without Blue there to say, 'You asleep yet, Cub? You were? Oops, sorry mate!'

The next day, his mindless wandering around London was a lot less mindless then usual as he walked up and down the different streets, scanning the crowds for the older teenager.

By the second night, as hard as Alex tried to push it away, anxiety and loneliness bubbled up inside him. Memories he had tried to forget resurfaced too.

By the time Alex finally fell asleep, cold and exhausted, his dreams were filled with blood and pain and screaming.

He never did see Blue again, and it was the next night, a Friday, that his whole world was turned upside down. Again.

Fridays seemed to be about the worst for late night binge drinking. Alex guessed it must be because everyone would have at least two days afterwards to get over their hangovers before going back to work. If they worked at all, that is.

And so it was obvious, that if there was going to be trouble, it would happen on a Friday night.

Though Alex Rider never got a chance to check his watch, he was pretty sure it must have happened some time around midnight. He was awoken once again from his fitful sleep by a loud noise. Unlike before though, when the sounds had seemed far away or the next street, this time the disturbance was coming from the opening of his alleyway. Alex froze, listening. Someone threw up noisily and a couple of others laughed. Watching the faint silhouettes, Alex guessed that there were at least six people there, and judging by their voices they where all young men, though probably a few years older then Alex himself.

One of them shouted at the two men laughing to 'shut the fuck up.' But it had little effect, they were too busy sniggering at their other friend's plight as he retched miserably. Soon enough, an argument started between the swearing man and another person, who was giving as good as he got and displaying a very small vocabulary which consisted mostly of curses.

Though Alex had heard them all before, he wished that the drunken gang would just move on. He was tired and their presence was making him feel decidedly uneasy.

Alex watched as the man who had been repeatedly sick collapsed unconscious to the ground, finally claimed by the vodka he had been dared to pour into his eye sockets for a quick buzz, and all the other alcoholic drinks he had consumed through more traditional means.

None of his companions seemed to notice, or if they did, they did nothing to help him.

They were too busy listening to the heated discussion, which Alex gathered was all about swearing, and which strip club they should visit. They kept chipping in with unhelpful comments that the other two men, high on alcohol, testosterone and probably drugs, were too busy arguing to hear.

They didn't even notice when one man, bored of the argument, muttered, 'I'm off to the loo...' And headed unsteadily in Alex's direction.

Immediately Alex's thoughts went back to the story Blue had told him about a man who had once tried to pee on him. Though it had sounded funny at the time, Alex decided it was a fate he would really rather not suffer, and jumped quickly to his feet.

Behind him was a dead end, a brick wall too high to climb over. The only way out was past the drunken men, but he had barely got a couple of steps forward when the man near him staggered straight into him. His weight over balanced Alex, and it was only by twisting to the side that he managed to avoid hitting his head hard on a nearby wall. Instead he fell further, collapsing down onto the ground next to some rubbish bins piled against the wall. Alex couldn't help letting out a small cry of pain, his left hand had landed on a shard of broken glass, slicing his palm open. Before he had time to get up and out of there, though, someone grabbed him by his coat and wrenched him unceremoniously to his feet.

'What did you do that for, you little bastard?' A new, angry face filled Alex's vision. He could smell alcohol on the man's breath. Without thinking, Alex reacted, bringing his right knee up, connecting with a very tender place, while wrenching the stranger's fingers away from his coat.

He took a precautionary step back, watching the man double up and swear repeatedly.

Angrily, Alex told him, 'I didn't do anything!' _ However, that wasn't quite true anymore. _

The one who had staggered into him stared at him incredulously. 'I saw that! First you attack me, then Jamie.' In a sudden mood swing, he went from surprised to angry. 'Little shit…' He muttered as he stepped closer to Alex, trying to intimidate him. A second later though he took a step back as Alex brought his arms up into a fighting stance.

__ Looks like he's too much of a coward to take me on after what happened to that mate of his, Jamie.  _ _ It was a rather satisfying thought, one that made Alex smile grimly.

A second later though, the smile disappeared from his face as Alex  _ noticed a blur of movement.  _ He ducked and pulled away to the left, hands meeting the red brick wall as a fist arched through the space his head had occupied just seconds ago.

Alex pushed himself away from the wall, leaving a bloody hand print behind as he did, and swung round to face his new attacker.

Quickly, he took in the situation.

_ Enemies?  _ Two men behind him, the one he had hurt now just about over the worst of the pain and out for revenge. Three more in front, unhurt. Oh yeah, and one man out cold on the floor, probably laying in his own sick. Gross, but no immediate threat.

_ Motivations?  _ Five young, but fully grown men, intoxicated, already spoiling for a fight and eager to show off to each other. Plus, they thought him who had started on them.

_ Fighting Ability?  _ They looked quite street wise and strong, but Alex doubted they had any real training when it came to fighting. Besides, they were very, very drunk, meaning that though they would be even more aggressive and unpredictable then normal, their movements would most likely be slow, clumsy and ill thought out.

The men fanned out slightly, surrounding him. They glared at Alex unsteadily, and it was obvious that each and every one of them meant him harm.

One spoke up; staring down at Alex with his arms pulled back slightly, his whole stance an intimidating one.

'Who the fuck do you think you are?'

Alex ignored him, looking around at each man in turn; searching for a weak point he could break out through and escape, hopefully unharmed.

'Hey, I asked you…'

At that he swung forward, aiming to knock Alex down. Alex reacted quickly, feinting to his right before ducking to the left under the fist flying his way. Then he made a run for it. Unfortunately he didn't make it more then a couple of steps before another member of the gang caught hold of his backpack. Alex hadn't expected anyone to react that quickly and jerked to a painful stop, the bag straps digging into his shoulders, his feet actually leaving the ground for a second due to the sudden abrupt force of his stop.

Alex tried to shrug the bag off; he didn't really care what happened to it, getting away unharmed was much more important. Before he could escape his captor though, whoever was holding him used their free hand to punch him in the back of the head. Alex let out a groan of pain as an immediate pounding headache ensued. He was shoved forward onto the ground, but instead of collapsing he landed on his hands first, then a few moments later, his knees connected with the concrete with a thud. Straight away he swung around and leapt back onto his feet in one smooth movement, turning to face his attackers, fists raised.

Unfortunately for him, his attackers had already started moving, and he turned just in time get a punch in the chest. Luckily there was little power, only anger behind it and he retaliated by smashing his right hand into the side of the other man's face. The man swore from the pain and lashed out at Alex again, who took a step back to avoid the blow. A quick glance behind him showed Alex that he was now just a few paces away from the dead-end, and his only escape route lay beyond all five of the men.

Panic and adrenaline rushed through his body. How the hell had that happened? While trying to escape they seemed to have shifted nearer to the alleyway entrance, while throwing him further back into it. He was now in an even worse situation then before.

He saw another fist heading his way and dodged underneath it, running past one man, avoiding the blow from another, only to be stopped when the last two stood side by side, their bulk taking up most of the alleyway.

Breathing hard, Alex tried to work out the best way of getting past them. That's all he needed to do, get past these last two guys and he could then run away like all of hells demons were pursuing him. He had no idea where he would go after that. Alex hadn't thought that far ahead, and anyway, it didn't really matter. All that mattered was getting away.

But he left it a few seconds too long; he hesitated and let the others he had passed come up behind him. Not knowing where the next attack might come from now, he fell into a natural fighting stance again, his head whipping from side to side as he did so, trying to keep them all in sight.

One of the men spoke up. 'Come on, what the hell's going on here?' It was clear that he was confused, and frustrated along with it. He had no idea why they were fighting some random kid, or why he was still standing. It made him angry that alcohol clouded his brain too much for him to work things out clearly, and that the five of them still hadn't managed to beat up one teenager yet. They were part of a gang that they liked to think others were afraid of. Losing would do nothing for their image. Not that he actually expected to lose.

Still Alex said nothing, not knowing what to say anyway. A moment later, violence reigned once again. Alex took another blow to the head, sending the world reeling before striking out with his foot, the next few seconds were a whirl wind of dodging, attacks and retaliation.

Alex was a much more skilled fighter, but in an enclosed space, fighting against five fully grown men, even if they were drunk, it came as no surprise to him when he found himself shoved once more to the rubbish strewn ground.

He managed to use his hands to stop his face coming into direct contact with the hard surface, but then a booted foot crashed down on his shoulder blades, knocking all the breath out of him and forcing him stomach-down onto the ground.

Alex's right arm was trapped underneath him, his other sticking out to the side. A heavy foot stomped down on it, trying to break it but without success. It hurt though, and another blow quickly followed. Someone else kicked him in the back of the head, close to where he'd been punched earlier.

All training seemed to abandon him in that moment as desperation, fear and panic kicked in. There was no time for coherent thought, just for instinct and the will to survive. Alex managed to pull his left arm in tight to the side of his body before it was stomped on a third time, while lashing out with the only part of his body that he could; his legs. Kicking out madly he felt his feet connect a couple of times before his right leg caught the right shin of the man pinning Alex down. The man's leg buckled slightly, and for a second all his weight was leaning on Alex through the foot pressing into his back, but in order to regain his balance he was forced to step away from Alex, freeing him.

Taking what might be his last chance, Alex used his tucked-in arms to lever himself up, his left arm protesting at the sudden movement.

Another foot flew into view, one that Alex was unable to avoid. It crashed into his brow with a force so strong that Alex felt his skin split open and his upward momentum turned to sideways as he was sent crashing to the right. His head was pounding, and his vision oddly blurred from the kick as well as the blood now trickling into his eyes. He struggled to get up, sure that any second now he would be hurt again.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really just seconds, Alex finally managed to stagger to his feet, looking as though he was the one who had been drinking too much.

The whole world swayed around him and his head hurt so much he felt like it was going to explode, so when he first realised why he was no longer under attack, he thought he must be imagining things.

There was a new arrival to the alleyway, a figure dressed all in black.

After a short time of just standing still and wiping the blood away from his eyes, Alex was able to see clearly again.

__ He's wearing a black cloak…well that's normal… _ _ Alex thought vaguely to himself as the newcomer sprang at the closest of the men. Alex was soon aware that he was watching an incredibly powerful fighter, though he had no idea who it could possibly be.

An MI6 agent? It was a possibility; he sure was helping Alex out, fighting off his attackers. But since when had MI6 agents gone around in billowing cloaks? Maybe this guy was some sort of would-be vigilante with the ego or stupidity to try and pull off the whole super-hero thing. Though wouldn't a black cloak be more of a super villain's style?

Whoever he was, he sure knew what he was doing. Though he seemed to use no particular style of fighting there was no doubting his prowess, his speed, and his strength.

Compared to him the young men who had attacked Alex stood no chance at all. They just weren't in the same league.

Alex winced as he heard the crack of bone. Those guys might have been his enemy, but the ruthless and merciless manner in which the cloaked man was dealing with them would make anyone flinch.

He watched as the figure grabbed hold of the hood of the last remaining opponent's sweatshirt. The other four still conscious had fled as best they could, swearing and screaming in rage and pain, calling back threats that they could not hope to actually substantiate. The man who had collapsed earlier was still laying flat out just beyond the alleyway. Luckily for him he had missed the whole thing, though who knows what he would think when he awoke in the morning to find himself all alone.

Alex stood still, seemingly unable to move as he watched the stranger deal with the last gang member. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock and his insides turn to lead.

Without ceremony the cloaked man swung the flailing youth around, grabbed hold of his sweatshirt at chest level, smashed his back into the wall behind him, and then in one swift movement, twisted his own head to one side and forward, towards his struggling enemy, and…and…

Alex couldn't believe what he was witnessing, it was impossible, and yet there was no doubt about it, his saviour ripped the other man's throat out as easily as someone could take a bite out an apple. The blood was horrendous, pumping out so fast and violently that it actually splashed up the opposite wall.

The victim's cries faded away to rasping gurgles, a terrible sound that Alex would never be able to forget for as long as he lived. He watched as the now dead man was released and collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor.

The black cloaked murderer turned to face Alex, and without thinking about it, Alex took an nervous step backwards.

Though it was dark in the alleyway, with just the light spilling in from its one opening, Alex could just about make out a pale face with short black or brown hair, and eyes which seemed to glow red.

He blinked several times and wiped his good arm across his face in an attempt to rid himself of any blood which might still have been impairing his vision. But it made no difference; he could still see bright red eyes. Perhaps they were contact lenses? But after witnessing what had just happened, it wouldn't take Alex much persuading to believe that they weren't.

Shifting so that his weight was distributed evenly on each foot, his hands in loose fists at his side, Alex called out, 'Who are you?' Or, at least, he had tried to say it loudly. Though he was pleased to find his voice level and calm sounding, the words still came out quietly. All the same, they filled the now silent alleyway, the noises of the city beyond forgotten.

'Me?' The figure tipped his head curiously to one side. 'I'm just the man who saved your life. Aren't you going to thank me?'

Though the cloaked man had no discernible accent, he spoke each word carefully as though savouring every syllable. There was also a sort of mocking, amused sound to his voice that immediately made Alex feel as though he was trying to belittle him.

Finding he couldn't look at those blazing red eyes anymore, Alex instead glanced down to his left, watching his fist tightening as the only visual sign of his unease and annoyance. His left arm still really hurt and was painful to move. He could feel a dozen other aches and pains as well, and just wished his head would stop pounding as much so he could start to think straight…

'Yeah, thanks.'

'You don't sound like you mean it…' An edge of fake disappointment crept into the stranger's voice. Something else was different this time too… Alex snapped his head up quickly as he noticed how much closer the cloaked man's voice now sounded.

There, now less then two metres away, glowed the red eyes.

Alex took another step back.

__ What the hell?  _ _ _ How had he managed to get closer in the short time he was looking away, and without making a single noise? _

His heart, already beating hard, sped up. The cool mask that had rarely slipped in the past, even when faced with death, was rapidly slipping away from the teenage spy, tendril after tendril of it being ripped away by the man in front of him.

But was he a man? Not in the sense of gender, the way he fought and talked labelled him as man, but he seemed something more then human. Or less…

'…no matter, you still owe me a favour, wouldn't you say?' It occurred to Alex that this was the voice of someone in complete and utter control. He was just toying with Alex, and he knew from what had happened to the last man the stranger had faced, that for all his fighting skills, he had come up against an opponent he had no hope of beating. This time he couldn't even use his enemies weakness against him, as he had done with Nile, for he had no idea if the cloaked figure even had any.

He was dressed all in black under the cloak, meaning that though he must be covered in blood, it couldn't be seen in this bad light. However, quite a bit had splashed onto his pale hands and face. It seemed as though he had only just noticed that himself. Without taking his sanguine eyes off of Alex, he lifted one hand to his mouth and licked the blood off the back of it.

Inside Alex shuddered with revulsion, but he didn't let his disgust show on the outside, even though his mask was crumbling away.

'Wouldn't you say?' The stranger repeated.

He took a step forward, Alex took a step back.

'Oh come on, I'm not going to hurt you…much.'

'I don't know who the hell you are, but…'

'I told you, I'm just the man who saved your life…' the cloaked figure interrupted, '…but I'm also the one who's going to take it away from you. I do so hope you don't mind.' His over-polite words were full of malice. He started to smile, a wide and toothy smile which held about as much warmth as a shark's. Alex took another step backwards.

For the second time that night, the teenage spy viewed something that would challenge anyone's view of the world, even that of someone who had been caught up in as many impossible situations as him.

For he swore that in the half-light, fangs glinted in the stranger's mouth.

Alex stared, his brain trying to tell him he was imagining things, or else they were fake, as well as a mad barrage of other explanations as his rational mind did all it could to deny the truth.

'What the hell…' Alex muttered to himself in shock.

'Oh, so you noticed? Want a closer look?' If a tiger had been able to talk to its prey, this was just how it would have sounded.

Alex didn't get a chance to reply or react in any way. In the time it took Alex to blink, the cloaked man was right in front of him.

Letting out a soundless gasp when any other person would most likely have screamed, Alex instinctively tried to get as far away from those impossibly long and pointed teeth, those crazed red eyes and the chocking smell of spilt blood.

But as he stumbled backwards, his head and back suddenly came into contact with the dead-end that he'd inadvertently been backing away into all along.

'Urgh…' Why was the world conspiring against him to give him permanent head damage tonight?

Large fists came out of nowhere and pinned him to the wall by his arms. Alex retaliated by trying to knee him in the groin, but he couldn't move his legs enough, the stranger was using his own knees to stop him. Alex resorted to trying to kick his shins, and when this did nothing to get him out of his predicament, he started to squirm and thrash around as best he could in a wild attempt to free himself. But once again it had no effect. The way in which the man was leaning on him should have made him vulnerable to being pushed over backwards, but despite all Alex's attempts he refused to budge or flinch. Instead he patiently watched Alex as he tried to free himself, waiting for him to tire.

'Let me go, let me go, let me go!' Alex growled desperately. He knew that there was no chance his capture would obey his demands, but the muttered words helped him focus and keep hold of his sanity while everything else in the world went insane.

But eventually, the last of his energy seemed to desert him and he hung his head slightly, to his right, his eyes tight shut, as though trying to block out the whole situation. Alex's breath was coming out in short, sharp bursts, his chest heaving, his legs betraying his fear by shaking. As well as fear, he was filled with anger and shame, directed mostly at himself. He was Alex Rider, for Gods sake! He had survived so, so much in the past, only to be defeated now, it seemed.

Alex expected the man to say something, most likely gloat about having him trapped and at his mercy, but instead he acted.

A piercing, burning sensation blossomed on the side of Alex's neck. He cried out in surprise and pain, instinctively trying to shrug his shoulder up and tilt his head to protect the searing part of his exposed neck. But in the split second it had taken for his body to react to the danger, there was nothing to react to. And then he found himself roughly thrown to the litter-strewn ground.

Alex curled up, both hands clutching the side of his throbbing neck. Blood spilt between his fingers. The burning sensation was spreading; he could feel it creeping through his body.

The spy's mind was racing and his body fired off the message, __ Poison, poison! _ _

The part of him that was still able to think straight despite all that was happening, told him one simple truth,  _ y _ __ ou've been bitten _ _ _ .  _ Then it continued, in less certain tones,  __ And no matter how crazy it seems, I'm thinking vampire. Yeah, knew you would laugh, but what else could it be, a viper hiding in his mouth? It's the only explanation, and it freaks me out, so I'm out of here. Good luck. _ _

A hand grabbed hold of his shoulder, fingernails digging into his skin roughly, he was pulled onto his back and then released. Without making the conscious decision to, Alex cried out from shock at the contact. Or at least he tried to. No noise would come out. Panicking, he repeatedly tried to utter a sound, his eyes wide and one arm still pressed against his neck. The other was reaching for the wall behind him as he scrambled back to his feet and away from the cloaked man.

The hot sensation had by now swept across his chest. Alex wondered if it was in some way connected with his sudden inability to make a sound. His question was answered after he made a short and futile attempt at escaping.

He got barely a few steps before the stranger was, without warning, right in front of him. Alex came to a sudden stand-still and for a second their eyes met, Alex's serious brown ones wide with incredulity and fear, the stranger's crimson red, staring back, a hint of insanity encapsulated in them.

'Don't before trying to call for help. The venom stops you from speaking. Useful, isn't it? Means that if I ever feel like playing with my food before killing them, I can just give them a special little nip first…'

Alex was right; the vampire was toying with him. Anger ignited inside him, and before the stranger could say anything else, Alex struck.

First he shot his left fist forward, quickly but with no power, followed almost simultaneously by his right fist with as much power behind it as he could muster.

But neither blow landed. He had been expecting it, and by watching closely he saw the cloaked man move. Though fast, it was the darkness that had made his speed seem so inhuman…though of cause, it truly was inhuman.

He already had one foot slightly in the air. Pivoting on his other foot, he brought his knee up before snapping out the rest of his leg just before reaching his target.

The top of his foot and ankle whacked into the vampire's side.

His elation at hearing a sudden, indrawn breath of pain was short lived as the stranger caught his leg before it made it back down to the ground, and wrenched it up again.

Alex felt himself falling backwards but could do nothing to balance such a sudden change in momentum. Down he fell, on the cold ground once more.

Suddenly there was a heavy weight on his stomach as the vampire sat on him to keep him down. He wrenched both of Alex's arms above his head and kept there by grips of iron.

Realising his legs were still free, Alex went about trying to kick his capturer in the back. But exhausted from his earlier fight, it didn't take long until his legs felt too much like lead to move.

Once he was still, the stranger lowered his head towards Alex, who flinched, thinking he was about to be bitten again.

'My, you are a little fighter, aren't you? Never known one like you before. It's amusing… but a bit annoying… Those who annoy me don't tend to live very long.' With that he lowered his head, teeth grazing against Alex's neck. He shivered, and screwed his eyes up tight, but there was no pain.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes again and looked around, his head twisted away to the side. Once again their eyes made contact. Those blood red orbs made Alex feel sick. They were so unnatural, so wrong…

'Never known one with blood like yours… You know, how someone's blood tastes and smells all depends on what sort of life they've lived. The more pain, suffering and hardship, the sweeter it is. You must have had a pretty bad life, boy. But your suffering will soon be over, don't worry.'

Alex did nothing as he listened to the vampire's one-sided conversation, hoping that the time would give him a chance to recover, and possibly escape… somehow.

But he never really stood a chance, and deep down he knew that.

The stranger stared down, watching a pulse beat in Alex's exposed neck.

It was the opposite side to the one he had bitten that was exposed now and he could see two straight scars on it, one above the other. The bottom one was thin and very faint, the one above more obvious and thicker. They were most likely the reason Alex had never been attacked in the past; at first glance they looked like the markings humans were given when under the protection of vampire royalty. They meant one of two things, that the human had been granted special favour by a royal, or more likely that they were their next meal. Either way normal vampires were not allowed anywhere near them. But it was clear at this distance that the scars were mere coincidence.

Not that the royal mark would have stopped him anyway, he had finally crossed the thin line of insanity and no longer cared how many rules he had broken. All the killings and most of the disappearances were down to him, including Blue's. He picked on the homeless because they were the least likely to be missed and usually had painful pasts that had lead to them being out on the streets to begin with.

Alex felt long fingers caress his neck and shudder. His jaw clenched and violent shudders ran down his whole body. It wasn't just fear now; it was the silencing poison that had reached the very tips of his fingers and toes, making him feel as though he was on fire from the inside.

'Soon over, soon over. I might have liked to keep you a little longer, you know, but I bit you so soon…didn't want you crying out, you see. Got to finish you off soon or you'll start to turn into a vampire. Wonder what your blood would taste like then… No, you would be too much hassle. The sweeter and stronger the blood, the sweeter and stronger the vampire, did you know that?'

The cloaked man's voice echoed down into the deep well Alex seemed to be stuck in, so far from the outside world.

Then something happened to shock Alex fully back into the waking world, another stab of pain in his neck. This time it was just another quick nip, but it left a much deeper wound then before. Then there was a third bite as the monster latched his teeth over the bloody wounds he had just inflicted, making the blood flower easier.

This time the bite didn't burn, but seemed to tug at him, as though it was pulling strands of his soul away from his body. After a few seconds though, all the pain seemed to vanish. Alex felt so empty, so sleepy. But then he slowly became aware of the burning sensation becoming stronger and stronger. With every passing moment it seemed to getting worse.

Using all of the willpower Alex could muster, he managed to surface once again into the real world. The spy side of him snapped into gear.

_ T _ _ hink, think! How do I get out of this one?  _

He ran through his possible options, his mind automatically jumping to the category; 'Gadgets.' Then a possible solution occurred to him, like a long awaited life boat finally appearing over the next wave _ .  _

__ My jacket! _ _

What had Smithers said to do? He couldn't remember the specifics, but knew that it was all down to the rubber casing of a button.

Desperately he wriggled his right arm, trying to free it, and to his amazement the vampire readily released it. Perhaps he no longer thought Alex could do anything to retaliate now. Not that anything had helped up until now. Hopefully that was about to change.

His bloody fingertips scrabbled round on the grimy ground along his right side until it came to the front of his jacket, unzipped and lying alongside him.

__ Thank God _ _ _ . _

If the jacket had been zipped up the button would have been impossible to reach.

He quickly located the precious disk of rubber and found that it swivelled round easily in his grip. Using his thumb he twisted it round and round repeatedly, but nothing happened.

New despair crashed down on him like his life boat being swamped just before it reached him.

Then he realised that he might be twisting it the wrong way, so he tried again, turning it clockwise. Round and round it went until Alex had almost given up again, but then suddenly pain erupted in his neck once again, as the vampire wrenched his fangs away, letting out a high-pitched and inhuman cry of pain. So strong was the electric shock that the stranger flung himself backwards, twitching and yelping in pain. The shock was supposed to have been strong enough to kill a human. Then again, this wasn't a human he was dealing with.

This was his chance to escape, but it was so hard. Just scrambling to his feet felt like climbing a mountain. But he managed it.

__ Come on, one foot in front of the other! _ _

Every step was slow and painful, but he had to keep going. Fear gave him a little strength, and the ever-present desire to keep on living gave him some more. He was almost running now. Behind him he could hear the vampire swearing and writhing on the ground. But who knew how long it would be before he was after Alex again?

He burst out of the alleyway. Just that small achievement filled him with hope. He broke into the nearest thing to a sprint he could muster, though he only had a vague idea of where he was going. All he could think of was finding a reasonably busy place where he could mingle with the crowd and escape.

But it was so late at night…or was it early in the morning? Alex wasn't entirely sure.

He considered simply hiding in another alleyway, but he was sure the vampire would track him down somehow, most likely via the blood he was covered in. All his own. He felt so, so weak and the wound on his neck continued to bleed. He needed help, and soon or he wasn't going to make it through the night, vampire or no vampire.

He heard voices ahead of him, the loud giggles of drunken women. He burst out onto a road, bright neon lights advertising the clubs and late night shops lining it. This was the perfect place.

Despite the time, groups of intoxicated people, were spilling out onto the road.

He ran straight through them, hearing several drunken screams and laughs as a group of women on a hen night spotted him covered in blood. Some obviously thought it was fake but quite a few realised it wasn't and shrieked in shock at the young, bloody teenager who had appeared in their midst.

' _ As you can see behind me, the effects of all night drinking has not led to a 'coffee culture' as government officials claimed it would, but instead to wide-spread vulgarity and drunkenness as younger generations take advantages of the cheap and readily available alcohol. Each night paramedics have to deal with countless patients who have suffered negative effects due to alcohol, from unconsciousness to cuts and bruises where other intoxicated people have attacked them. This puts a terrible strain on the NHS, which…' _

The middle-aged reporter standing in front of the camera and its crew paused mid-sentence as the screams and shrieks that had been off in the distance (and had been going on pretty much all night), suddenly grew much closer. Then out of the milling crowd of people behind the reporter, many waving their arms around in an attempt to get spotted on TV, burst Alex Rider.

He was a shocking sight, a 15 year old boy with blood all down his front and his arms, a look of glazed fear on his face.

The camera focused in on the boy for a second, before he realised with a start that he was being filmed and shot off out of sight. MI6 would kill him if he did anything to expose himself to the public. It might not have been the most pressing concern to him right at that moment, but the instinct to get away from the film camera came as second nature to him.

The unperturbed reporter continued with his spiel as though he hadn't even noticed the interruption, ' _ Which is already under enough strain due to recent funding cuts by the government…' _

On and on Alex ran, still not sure what he was looking for. Safety? Sanctuary? But where could they be found? What could save him from a vampire? He was sure he was still being followed. He hadn't seen even a glimpse of a black cloak, but something told him that the vampire was one predator that wasn't going to allow his prey to escape so easily.

It was getting harder and harder to keep moving. It was as though his whole body was seizing up. The pain and loss of blood made it hard to think and all the time the heat was rising up inside him, while on the outside he shivered.

He heard an unexpected screech of tires and looked around at the road next to him. A black car had just came to an abrupt stop a couple of metres away from him. A man pushed open the driver-side door and leapt out of the vehicle.

'Alex!' There was horror and worry in the man's voice.

'Fox?...' Alex whispered, confused. How had he found him?

'Alex, get in, we've got to take you to a hospital!'

Ben Daniels grabbed hold of him and Alex allowed himself to be bundled into the back seat of the car. Though his brain was struggling to catch up with what was happening, he felt relief course through him. Could it possibly be that he was safe now?

He collapsed onto the synthetic material covered seats, and without really thinking about it, did up his seat belt. If he had noticed himself doing it up, no doubt he would have let out a hollow laugh. What did a seatbelt matter after all he had been through?

But as it was he was too busy looking behind them as the car pulled away from the pavement. Something had made him glance back, and there on the road, several metres behind where Alex had got into the car, was a figure cloaked in black with blazing red eyes. He simply stood there, arms at his side, watching Alex as they drove away. Though it was dark, Alex felt for a second as though he had seen huge, solid looking shadows dancing behind and above the vampire's head. But when he blinked again, he couldn't make out anything but darkness.

For several minutes he just stared behind them, watching out for his reappearance. But as the seconds past, Alex found himself sinking further and further down the seat, until he gave up and turned around to sit in the seat properly.

'What the hell happened to you, Alex?' Ben asked.

'Got attacked…' Alex muttered. The whole world was starting to fade out of view, blurring into darkness.

'By what, a pack of wolves?' There was no response. 'Alex? Alex! Can you hear me?'

He couldn't. Alex had finally succumbed to exhaustion, pain, blood loss and unconsciousness. His battered body had collapsed to the side, kept in place as they went round bends in the roads only by his seatbelt.

'Alex! Hold on, I'm taking you to the hospital!'

' _ He's collapsed…yes, taking him there right now…lots of blood…doesn't look good…no idea, didn't have time to tell me…yes, fainted…dead?..' _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If your wondering, in the books Alex manages to get a cut on his neck from some branch or other while training with the SAS.  
> Later on in the same book, I think, a bullet grazes his neck. So that's where those two random scars came from.


	6. Watch Me Crash and Burn

Until Alex had first started working for MI6, Jack Starbright had rarely bothered to watch the news.

The TV news had never been of any interest to her, and the British version annoyed her. It was even duller then the American, though she had to admit it generally covered what was going on in the rest of the world more then the news in the USA ever had. Same with the newspapers, which also had not been of much interest to her until Alex had first been endangered at governmental orders.

Jack figured that the British news reports must talk about other countries more because they had so little of their own to report. It was a very small country after all, unlike America, which generally had enough of its own problems to tell the public without bothering about what the French President had been caught doing this week.

But now, whenever Alex went away, Jack watched every news report and read every paper she could get her hands on, searching for news of Alex.

She knew it was pretty pointless; anything involving a teenager illegally employed by MI6 was going to get hushed up. There were events she had read about that she suspected Alex might be involved, but until this evening she had never actually had proof.

It was ten o'clock and Jack was planning to go to bed straight after watching the news. In fact, she almost fell asleep watching it. The French leader reportedly being videoed in bed with a seventeen-year-old prostitute was not earth shattering news to her. However, what she saw a few minutes later was.

By then it had switched to the more local news, and was showing a report on the problems of 24-hour drinking in London that had been filmed the night before.

Eyes, glazed over with disinterest suddenly snapped into focus and her heart started to pound as Jack caught sight of the one person she had been desperate for news on, but had hoped she would never see in a news report.

'Alex!' She couldn't help shouting his name out loud. She clapped her hands to her mouth, though not to stop any sound escaping, as there was no one in the house she could disturb, but because of shock.

He was only on screen for a second or two, but there was no doubting who it was, or that he was in trouble. He had clearly been covered in blood, for Gods sake!

Without thinking about it, she flung herself down onto the carpet in front of the TV, her eyes scanning the blurry faces visible on screen as best she could this close up, desperate for another glimpse of her charge.

A panicked sob escaped her, and as the news switched to another item, Jack let her body slide onto the carpet below the TV. There she curled into a ball, her hands entwined in her hair, pulling at it as though trying to block out the mental pain with physical instead.

Jack stayed like that for roughly five and a half seconds before leaping to her feet and dashing into the hallway.

Snatching up the phone she dialled 91… and then paused. Did 911 even work in England? Probably… but by the time she had decided to press a second 1, the screen had gone dark. Slamming the phone back down into its holder its holder so she could start again, Jack picked it up once more and furiously dialled 999.

'I want to…I need to talk to…' As she was asked to pick which service she required, Jack faltered. If she requested to talk to the head of MI6, what chance would she possibly have of getting through?

'…The Police!' It was a place to start at least….

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

_ There was an agonising pain in his mouth. Scorpions, sent by Scorpia were using their stingers and pincers to try and wrench his teeth out. Jack was there with him, quietly reading a book in what he knew was supposed to be their living room, though it looked nothing like the real thing. Alex kept trying to shout out to her that if she didn't run, the scorpions would get her too. But no sound escaped his lips, only bubbles of blood which were welling up inside his throat from a wound on the side of his neck. The scorpions, which had now mysteriously disappeared , were to blame for this too. And then, suddenly. Jack glanced up and Alex reeled back in shock at the sight of her two burning red eyes, far too large for her face. He stumbled to his feet and made to run away, but it felt like his limbs had been weighed down with stone. Panicking, he glanced back around but found that Jack had disappeared now. On the wall opposite him someone had written a message in what looked like fine red ink, though Alex Rider somehow knew that it was in fact blood. Try as he might, he couldn't read what the words said, his vision blurred whenever he tried to focus on it. Then he realised why; the room, (which had transformed into more of an office then a living room), was full of smoke. In the distance he could hear a fire alarm beeping, the sound getting louder and louder. In desperation he dropped to his hands and knees, trying to crawl away below the worst of the smoke. Every movement felt sluggish and heavy. If he didn't escape soon, he' die! He had to keep going. Had to keep going. Had to keep- _

'It…he's waking up, sir!' Called a voice, and suddenly Alex snapped out of his dream. The beeping continued however, as did the pain in his mouth. And every other part of him was in agony as well, feeling as though his insides were trying to burst through his skin. He was burning up at a temperature far too high to be possible. He discovered that he was now able to utter sounds again, in the form of a tortured scream. It was the only outlet he had for all the pain, pain like he had never known it before.

As clouded as his mind might be at the moment, he was aware enough of his soundings to realise that he was strapped down to the surface below him by thick restraints. Despite the strong bands holding him down by his chest, wrists, stomach, legs and ankles, he still managed to writhe in agony, his head twisting from side to side, his jaw locked, his eyes tight shut and his fists clenched.

Another loud scream escaped Alex's lips. The and his eyes snapped open, spy instincts battling through the pain, telling him he must try and find out were he was.

His eyes immediately alighted on a face just a few steps away from him, that of a frightened man wearing a long white lab coat. His stance was that of a human with no fighting training preparing for flight or fight. His centre of gravity was low, his legs spaced out, shoulder width apart, elbows bent, ready to help propel him either way if he chose to run, or to swing into attack if he chose to make a stand.

'Sir!' The man shouted, glancing quickly to his right.

__ Wu…what's he scared of? _ _ Alex wondered weakly as he struggled to make sense of the situation. Every breath felt like his lungs were clapped in steel and the pain was so bad that his breath hitched and gasped within his throat.

But still, he had to know what was going on. Part of his dream flashed back to him. What if he was a prisoner of Scorpia? Dread gripped his heart and with a huge effort, he managed to roll his head to the side slightly. Doing so hurt his neck, as though stretching a new wound, but he couldn't actually feel any damage to his skin. It seemed to be oddly deeper then that.

From this angle he could see he was tied down to some sort of strange looking hospital bed. It was at a slanted angle so that his head was much higher then his toes. Alex wasn't sure what the ties that were holding him in place were made of, but they felt tough unlikely to to snap.

His eyes flickered around the room, taking in beeping machinery and surgical white walls and ceiling. There was an IV stuck in his right arm which he hadn't even noticed till then, and other wires attached to him here and there, which he hadn't been able to feel due to the prickling, burning sensation that swamped every part of him, including his skin.

By moving his head a fraction to the side Alex could see that someone had changed his clothes to a simple white T-shirt and shorts.

Alex realised he could hear hurried footsteps approaching.

__ Heavy business shoes, new by the sounds of it, worn by a large man if the footfalls are anything to go by… _ _

The sound stopped and was instead replaced by the beeping of a security code. A door opened, but not the one to the room he was in. Then an electronic voice intoned dully, 'Scanning in progress, please remain still.' And then a few seconds later another man rushed into the room.

Alex's pupils flicked to the corner of his eyes to watch the new arrival join the first man.

'Look, he's awake sir!'

'Yes, I can see that.' The second man snapped. He was older looking, with glasses, clear hair loss and an angry look on his pale face.

He stepped closer to Alex, too close.

The spy suddenly realised he could smell…something. It took him a second to work out that he could somehow scent the blood flowing through the man's veins.

He barely had time to think,  _ h _ __ uh, what? _ _ Before something exploded through his mind. Pure savage instinct took control and drove all sane thoughts from his head.

Alex snarled, and with lightning speed, swung his head around and snapped at the man. He was breathing hard, all the pain and burning gone now, except in his throat. He just wanted to…no, there was no 'want'. Alex had lost the ability to think using the word 'want', or to in fact think at all, all there was a terrible, all consuming need. For blood.

Some tiny part of the boy, hidden away at the back of his mind was shocked and disgusted at this revelation.  __ Blood? No…no way! No, no, no! _ _

But then the very last essence of what made Alex, Alex, was snuffed out, until only a terrible snarling creature was left behind to control his body.

He strained at the ties that kept them in place, using all the strength that suddenly shot through his body to try and escape and kill.

But who ever had designed the restraints had known what they were doing, and all that happened was that they dug in deep into his flesh, leaving raw red marks he barely even noticed.

The two men had recoiled as soon as the change had taken place.

'It's reverted!' A seemingly distant voice cried. 'More Encalment needed!'

The words meant nothing to Alex, they were just the twitterings of silly little creatures, ones that were his prey. Who cared what prey said? It was there only to be eaten!

But then, as quickly as the rage and thirst started, it began to fade away. He grew weaker and weaker again. As soon as he realised that they were pumping some sort of drug into his veins, via the IV, he tried to rip it away. But it was already too late; his limbs were simply too heavy to move. He let out a final animalistic growl as he sunk back into a troubled and heavily drugged sleep.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

Jack slammed the house phone down for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to try and calm herself, but as she did so, the grainy image of Alex had had appeared on the news the night before flashed into her head. Her fear for him and anger at MI6 rushed through her and she smashed her fist into the phone holder. The whole thing toppled off the desk and onto the floor, the phone clattering out of its cradle.

Jack stared down at it, fists clenched. What if she had broken it? What if Alex or someone who knew what had happened to him was trying to get hold of her right now? Quickly she snatched the two items up and scrambled to fit the phone back into its little niche. She let out a sigh of relief as she heard a familiar 'beep' which told her the phone was charging. Its little screen flashed on, showing it was still working. But there was no ringing sound, or new messages, just one old one.

She pressed a button which would play it for her. 'You. Have. One. Old. Message. Message. One.' A disjointed feminine voice informed her.

'Beeeeeep.'

Then it started. Though Jack had listened to it so many times since it had arrived earlier today that she could have quoted it word for word, she still strained her ears to try and pick up anything she could have missed last time around.

'Alex Rider is safe and recovering in hospital. Please do not try to contact us again or involve a third party. May we remind you of your current situation and our on going wish that Mr Rider stays anonymous?'

They caller hadn't left a name and Jack didn't recognise the voice, but there was no doubt that MI6 was behind it.

She played it once more, carefully analysing each sentence in the short message.

' _ Alex Rider is safe and recovering in hospital.'  _

So the higher-ups had got wind of Jack ringing everyone she could to try and get in contact with MI6, and that she had turned up at their Head Quarters at the Royal and General Bank four times already, the first time at around 11pm last night, asking after Alex. This message had been left on her answer phone while she had been there for the third time. Jack was sure it had purposefully been left while she was out so that they wouldn't have to talk to her. She wasn't sure if she could get away with going there for a fifth time. She had already been thrown out three times that morning for upsetting the customers and had got no results from it.

The thing that bugged her about the first line was that they said he was safe in hospital, but didn't mention to her what hospital he was in. She had tried all the local ones to no avail. Why were they keeping his whereabouts hidden from her? They hadn't in the past when he was in hospital. They hadn't had any problems with her visiting either, why was it different this time round? It couldn't possibly be worse then a near-fatal bullet wound, could it? They said he was safe…were they lying? It wouldn't surprise Jack, nothing did these days.

' _ Please do not try to contact us again or involve a third party.'  _

They obviously didn't like all the fuss she was making and were scared that she would tell someone else about Alex while trying to find out more about what was happening to him. They didn't need to tell her, in her desperation she had tried to explain to a couple of police officers, but they simply hadn't believed her. There was no one she could turn to…

' _ May we remind you of your current situation and our on-going wish that Mr. Rider stays anonymous?' _

And then there was that icing on the cake, the loosely veiled threat. Jack guessed that they were referring to her Visa when her 'current situation' was mentioned. They were threatening to deport her if she did anything else to displease them.

And finally there was 'Our on-going wish' that what Alex had been forced into didn't become public. Any other person with less knowledge of how MI6 behaved might have thought that 'our' meant that they really didn't want the truth known, and would have believed this gave them a threat to use against them. But Jack knew from what they had said to Alex previously that, though they would rather his story was not told, it would be him who suffered, and not them if it ever came to light.

'They've got me backed up into a corner, with no one to turn to,' Jack murmured to herself, not even noticing that the words were spoken out loud. But she was wrong. There was one person inside MI6 who cared about what happened to Alex and had in fact already done what he could to make contact with her. She just hadn't checked her E-mails yet…

 

 


	7. Progress

Her hair was tangled and in need of a wash, and so was the rest of her. She hadn't had a shower since she'd spotted Alex on the news. Jack had had hardly any sleep either, leading to dark rings under her eyes. All in all she looked rather like a zombie, and felt like one too. Lack of sleep had taken its toll on her. Everything in her life had gone wrong it seemed, and she was stuck, not able to move forward in any way without confirmation on her charge, and unable to go back to who she had been before she had first become a lodger in Ian Rider's house, for just the same reason.

In her current state it was a miracle that she ever came across the E-mail at all, and in fact, it was only by accident that she did. Jack had been hoping to get a reply to the message she had sent a cousin of hers in the American army, though she knew deep inside that he wouldn't be able to help her in anyway, even if he could make sense of the garbled and cryptic E-mail.

Scanning through the received, messages, deleting any she came across because she just couldn't stand normal life at the moment, Jack could see that he hadn't got back to her.

_Tigers are dying out! Sign thi... *Delete*_

_Hi! Its Steve, you know, from high school? I was wondering if... *Delete*_

_J Star, your next Rentals are on the way. Films: Twilight... *Delete*_

_Your vote makes a diff... *Delete*_

_I agree Marcus... *Delete*_

_I agree Mar... *Delete*_

_I agree... *Delete*_

It wasn't until she had deleted the same message a third time, only for it to pop up again, that Jack even noticed. A frown appeared on her already miserable looking face. Had she received some sort of virus via Email, on top of everything else that had happened?

Violently she stabbed the 'delete' button again and again. But every time the message reappeared. Jack was so near the edge, and it seemed as though this would be the thing to push her over the edge. She could feel the sobs building up in her throat, constricting it and making it hard to breathe. Already tears had started to fall onto the black keyboard at her fingertips.

__No! I must be strong for Alex! For Alex..._ _

Thinking of him for the hundredth time that day did not help, and desperately Jack tried to think of something to do to hold back the further tears that threatened to fall.

It was then that she actually decided to read the Email

_From:_

_I Agree Marcus, A long term illness is no Fun at all. Richard himself has been Ill for some time now as well and Everyone at work seems to be off with colds too! means more work for me, but Never mind, the more I Do, the more I get paid! talking about work, Oliver's still doing all he can to get me Fired, i swear it's his fault that Andrew's Left. Everybody knows what he's up to except Xavier, useless twit._

_oh well, i hope you get better soon_

_-s_

Jack stared at it in confusion. Why would such a boring, benign and obviously miss-sent E-mail contain a virus that stopped it being deleted, and did who knows what else to the computer? It just didn't make any sense at all. Unless perhaps someone had somehow picked up a random E-mail someone had sent, attached the bug and then sent it to multiple others? Maybe all it was a message meant for someone else, this 'Marcus', obviously, and for some strange reason her computer wasn't letting her get rid of it?

Twice more she scanned through it, seven more times she tried to delete it.

But what if it was actually meant for her? It was an absurd idea, and Jack had no real reason to believe it, but stranger things had happened before, and she was so desperate for help that she could have turned basically anything around her into some sort of sign linked to Alex. But if it was a sign, what did it mean?

Deciding she needed to be able to study it better, she printed out the E-mail. As it came out of her printer, she was surprised to see two things on it that she had not spotted in the actual E-mail. The first was a small black and white crest at the top of the paper, a shield shape with a large 'S' inside of it. At the start and end of the letter there were little cogs drawn, three fitted together at either end, getting slightly bigger as they got further away from the 'S'.

The second thing was at the bottom, an address, along with a date and time. Jack stared down at the piece of paper in her hands, still warm from the printer. This was proof, right? Proof that there was more to this E-mail then first met the eye. She felt like rushing off to this location straight away. Every part of her was screaming that if there was a way of finding out what had happened to Alex, she should go off and find it as soon as possible. But there was a date and time set. Tomorrow, at half past twelve. Tomorrow seemed like an eternity away, but if it led to her finding Alex, or at least discovering what had happened to him, surely it would be worth the wait? And perhaps the E-mail had more to give away then just a location and time. Picking out a pen from a nearby drawer, she poised it above the sheet of paper, held lightly in her fingertips like a guillotine held up by just a few threads of a tattered rope, waiting to fall. There was something more to this E-mail, she was sure. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Jack Starbright smiled. It was so obvious.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

_Pain. Anger. Thirst. Fear. Bullets. Scorpia. Red tinted glasses. Cold blue eyes. Assassins. Death. Hatred. Crocodiles. Guns. Nuclear Bombs. Sharks. Knives. Blood. Hauntingly familiar faces._

His drug induced sleep was filled with all of these horrors, and more. It is said that those about to die see their lives flash before their eyes. If so Alex had come close to dying many times before he finally awoke again.

Things were different this time, he sensed that straight away. Though his was tied down to a slanted hospital bed in a bland, medical room, the agony he had been in before had faded to a dull ache. Now Alex felt as though he had been punched and kicked from head to toe a couple of weeks ago. That was the nearest comparison he could give to how he was feeling. So though he wasn't exactly feeling on top of the world right now, it was still a huge improvement on before. His mind was a little clearer as well, though not by a huge amount. His recent memories still felt fuzzy and illusive. Every time he tried to concentrate on what happened, the images in his head faded further away. Not that he was sad to see them go; they were full of blood, pain and confusion.

Something else felt different about him as well, though he couldn't quite pin-point what the change was. What was it? Alex felt that if only he could escape these straps and stretch life back into his body, then he would know what the change was. But what were the chances of his captors letting him go? He tried to work out who it could be that he was a prisoner of. Scorpia? But hadn't he been told that MI6 had made some sort of deal with them to leave him alone? Not that Alex would ever trust them to keep their end of a bargain. But there were other criminal organisations, evil individuals, or perhaps even vengeful allies of those he had taken down in the past, that would have no qualms about kidnapping the teenage boy.

What really bothered Alex though, apart from the whole been strapped down and helpless things, was that no matter how much he racked his mind for the information, he could find no memory of being kidnapped. Perhaps he had been knocked out by some sort of drug before he had chance to realise the danger?

He tried to piece together the recent past one step at a time. So he had been on a mission for MI6, hadn't he? Living on the streets in London. Ah, good times, good times. Freezing his butt off, being approached by drug dealers... making a friend. For a second a pang of worry shot through him as he remembered Blue, and the fact that he had gone missing. But he pushed those thoughts away, there was nothing he could do to track down Blue at the moment, for goodness sake, he couldn't even move most of his own body right now! Best to worry about himself before getting himself wound up about someone else. Immediately though his thoughts turned to Jack. What would she be doing right now? Surely MI6 would have informed her by now that something bad had happened to him? How much would they tell her?

Did they even know he'd gone missing? Or maybe were they even now launching a rescue attempt? What if they weren't going to try and rescue him at all? What if they were going to just leave him here? Wherever 'here' was.

A noise distracted him from his thoughts. Alex had thought he was alone, but now that he thought about it, he realised that he could actually tell there was someone else here by scent alone. Now _that_ was weird. He lifted his head groggily and looked around, catching sight of who had made a sound. It was the same guy as he had first glimpsed when he woke up last time. Last time...what had happened last time? Something... something strange. Something bad.

Pushing those thoughts away, he studied the man in front of him. He was fast asleep, dozing quietly, slumped into a plastic backed chair in the corner of the room. He looked about thirty years old, with a shock of black hair, a couple of day's worth of stubble on his face and a long, crooked nose. He was wearing a lab coat, rumpled up by the way he was sitting down.

As Alex watched him, he slipped a little further down the hard-backed chair, the fabric of the clothes he was wearing brushing against the plastic. This was the faint sound that Alex had detected earlier. He frowned slightly. It was such a small noise, how could he have heard it so clearly? Especially when there was machinery bleeping and humming all around him. Taking his eyes off the sleeping figure, he looked around at all the strange machines around him, most of which were connected up to him and seemed to be measuring something or other. Alex really wished he could move. He felt as though he was going to get cramp any second and he really wanted to stretch out, wanted to let his joints click and his muscles move. Especially his back. Alex was sure that if only he was able to arch his back and move his shoulder bones back, something in his back would click, but in a good way, and that he would feel much better for it.

He tried as best as he could to stretch and tense his muscles, but the ties restraining him were tight and unforgiving, allowing for very little movement. As he moved a new beeping started up, an annoying, high pitched one. Realising he was the cause of it Alex immediately stopped moving, and the sound desisted.

But it had been enough to disturb the sleeping man, who jerked awake with a start.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

The sudden movement was enough for gravity to take its toll, and before he knew what was happening, he slid straight off the chair and landed on his butt on the floor. A rough bark of laughter, followed by coughing made his head whip round. He stared, wide eyed at the young man strapped down to the hospital bed. Their eyes met for a second before the patient started to cough again, breaking the contact. A second was far too long to be looking into those unnerving eyes however, and he shuddered.

He then started to feel very guilty. He should have been awake when then subject became conscious, so he could send him straight back to sleep. They didn't think he would be ready for proper contact with human beings for quite a long time yet.

The harsh sounding laughter at his fall had been the first sound he had heard the teenager make, beyond screaming though, so perhaps he was getting better faster than they thought?

Despite that thought, he was still shocked when the subject spoke.

'Where am I?'

For a second he considered not answering and simply injecting more drugs into the boy so he would fall asleep again. He had always much proffered sleeping subjects to waking ones. Though the dead ones where even easier to deal with.

'Umm...' He licked his lips nervously, and then decided he might as well be honest. 'You're at Cold Hall.'

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

Cold Hall? Or, to give it it's full name, Cold Hall Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Everyone who lived anywhere near London knew about this place, though few had been anywhere near it. It was the place where those criminals so evil or mentally unstable that even places like Rampton Hospital couldn't deal with them. Why the hell was he here? It was such an odd place to lie about that he was convinced it must be true. But if he was in Cold Hall, MI6 must know about it! There was no way he could have ended up in such a closely guarded and well known place without them knowing. So that meant...

'Where does MI6 come into it?' Speaking was difficult; his voice came out all hoarse and chocked up. Alex wished he could have something to drink; his throat was really starting to burn.

His question seemed to startle the man.

'MI6? They, uh, know your here if that's what you mean. Though I...' He broke off. Alex wondered if he had been about to say something along the lines of, 'though I don't know what the connection between you and MI6 is', the way he frowned and hesitated made Alex think that he wasn't aware that he worked for them.

So MI6 knew all about him being here? Which probably meant that they knew he was being restrained like this. Why? Why would they do this to him? It didn't make sense. He was relieved that at least he wasn't in the hands of one of his enemies, but despite the fact that MI6 had sent him off on one life threatening mission after another, they had never treated him like this. And why was he in a hospital for the criminally insane? Why hadn't they sent him to Saint Dominic's like they had done in the past? Everything was so bad and weird and confusing and wrong. Alex let out a groan as all the worry and pain built up inside him. There was one thing that was bothering him more than anything else now though.

'I'm thirsty...' He muttered, mostly to himself. At this the man in front of him transformed from having a slightly pained and worried look on his face, to full blown horror. This simply added to the long list of things that were confusing Alex.

'What, is water a banned substance at Cold Hall?' He joked weakly.

'N-no, of course not,' came the reply. Was it just Alex's imagination, or did he sound oddly relieved? Man, he should have just stayed asleep; the nightmares probably would have been easier to deal with then this parody of waking life.

The man disappeared behind him, out of sight and a couple of seconds later Alex heard the sound of a tap being turned and water gushing out. Then he reappeared, holding a see-through plastic cup filled with water. He hesitated then, noticing a problem that had already occurred to Alex.

'You couldn't possibly untie me could you?' Again a look of horror crossed the man's face, sending a jagged blade of fear into Alex's chest. Why was he acting like this? What was so scary about him, and why was it necessary for him to be tied down so ruthlessly?

He wasn't surprised though when the only answer he received was a mute shaking of the head.

Instead of letting him go, the man nervously lent forward at put the cup to Alex's lips. Though his hands shook slightly, he still managed to let Alex take several sips at a time without spilling it all over him.

Though both of them tried to ignore it, they could tell by the slight heat in their own cheeks and a slight, visible reddening on the face of the other, that both were uncomfortable and little embarrassed by the situation. Somehow though it made both of them feel as though the other person was just a little more human then they first thought.

'Do you want some more water?' The man in the lab coat asked Alex. 'No, I'm okay.' It was a lie. There was nothing okay about this situation at all, including his throat. It still felt weird, but if a glass of water hadn't got rid of the problem, (though it did feel a little better now, and he was able to speak properly again), then he figured that he must have a really sore, or perhaps swollen throat, and that more water wasn't going to fix that. The guy still hovered near him nervously, despite the fact that he was the one in complete control here, Alex being strapped down tightly to a hospital bed and all. Alex turned his head to face him, and saw him flinch. Looking up at him standing at the head, and just behind his bed, Alex said in a good humoured but slightly annoyed voice, 'I don't bite you know!' Alex saw him visible flinch, and the faint smile on his own face slipped away as a memory he had tried so hard to grasp earlier came floating back of its own accord.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

It was clear to the man that in that moment, the boy remembered that had happened to him. There was horror in his inhuman, dazzling black eyes, with their strange brownish-red flecks of colour. 'Bite...'

He barely heard the whispered word, but worried as he did so that the subject was going to go snap again, like he had done last time he was awake. He had actually been amazed that it, no, he, hadn't already tried to attack him, and so wouldn't be surprised if that happened now. But it didn't. Instead the patient hung his head down, as though he had just realised the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Then, slowly he looked up at him again, the pain and surprise still visible on his features. 'That...That's...I was bitten, wasn't I?'

There was a pleading tone to his voice, as though he was desperately waiting for someone to burst through the door, shouting, 'Surprise! Got you real good there! You should have seen your face!' But there was no denying the truth, however frightening and incredible it was.

'Yes. You were bitten.' He surprised himself with how heavy his own words sounded. It was then that he realised he pitied this pitiful, unnatural wretch, this inhuman creature, this poor, poor boy.


	8. Escaping Limbo

'But...' Alex shook his head violently from side to side, as though by denying the truth he could make it a lie. 'But, no, no! That can't have happened, I mean they don't exist. That's impossible. That's just...impossible.' he spluttered in desperation. But he knew his heart was pounding and that he was starting to hyperventilate.

'I know it seems impossible,' the lab assistant agreed solemnly, 'It should be, but it's not. As crazy as it sounds, you were bitten.' There was a moment of silence and Alex could see the man's lips moving, as though he was trying to force a word out through them. 'By a vampire.' He sounded as though he barely believed his own words.

Pain-filled memories he had tried to recall came flooding to the surface. At the same time he found himself struggling to contain the raw panic at finding himself tied down like this that he'd been trying so hard to contain. It brought back so many terrible memories. He could almost see the giant grind stones, almost feel himself slipping further and further towards them on a conveyor belt, almost hear Conrad's distorted voice hissing in his ear.

It was all just too much for him, brave as he was he had finally reached the edge and panicked as he went tumbling over.

'No!' The shout tore from his ragged throat. 'No, no, no, that can't happen. It just can't. They, they, they don't exist. It's a lie! They aren't real, there's no such thing as...vampires!' He stopped to gasp in a breath of the room's sterilised air, eyes wide with panic, his denials made louder and more fervent by fear.

Then the memories skipped on to a much more recent one. Unnatural, blood red eyes staring down at him, his back pressed against a rough brick wall, a strong body holding him still.

Those eyes glowed in front of him, the real world long forgotten as he was taken back in time.

'Please, no...' Alex moaned in horror. 'Let me go, let me go, please let me go!' He thrashed around madly, barely conscious of the world around him. All there was was a mindless fear and the desperate need to escape. He didn't notice the sudden influx of medication as a sedative was pumped into his bloodstream. The world started to dim. Everything faded away and his cries died away. The last thing he did before succumbing to the drugs, was to give the lab assistant a look that was a mixture of confusion, hurt and disappointment.

Then the nightmares reclaimed him.

… _~*AR-OBTS*~…_

Jack consulted the copy of the E-mail clutched in her hand for seemingly the thousandth time that day. It was crumpled and drawn on. Part of the E-mail address, ' _ MergingInformation6'  _ had an arrow leading off it to the word, 'MI6?'

All the capital letters in the actual Email had been ringed, and then the message those letters spelt out scrawled at the bottom of the paper.

' _ I am a friend of Alex' _

Those six words filled her with more hope than she had imaged it would be possible to feel since she had first spotted Alex on the news. She had wanted to rush straight to the location given, but had refrained. The date had been just the next day, but the hours before the appointed time had dragged past painfully slow. She had got very little sleep that night and to fill in the slow passing seconds, she had scrubbed and rubbed and washed until she was sure that she looked less like a zombie and more like a human again. She had even applied make-up, more than she ever usually would to try and cover up the dark rings under her eyes which indicated to the world more than one sleepless night.

Jack had also been very careful when choosing her outfit. Not to try and make herself look as good as possible, but so that she would be as best prepared as she could be for…well, for anything. For all she knew this could be all some sort of terrible trap, her paranoia was so much at this time that she was able to believe pretty much anything and everyone around her could be a threat.

She had picked out solid, comfy boots with a small heel on purpose. The less heel, the better for running, but in a fight that small heel would be much more painful when kicked into a tender place then, say, a flip-flop. Her trousers, (or pants as she always thought of them, refusing to let go of the words she was so used to in exchange for England's, despite having lived here all these years), were fairly smart looking, but allowed for plenty of movement. She was also wearing a large, though not particularly thick coat (it was spring after all) with large pockets. Large enough to hide a small knife.

After glancing at the page in her hand, confirming that she had got the right building, she strode across the road, trying to look as confident as she could. She wasn't entirely sure what type of building she had expected it to be, but it certainly hadn't been anything like the busy American Diner style restaurant that she was now approaching.

Was this some sort of joke? Or trick? Or trap? How was she supposed to work out who she had come here to meet?

Upon entering a waitress approached her, but she left her alone once Jack informed her that she was simply looking for a friend. Well, one of Alex's friends. Apparently. Who could it be? Jack couldn't see anyone she recognised here, or anyone else who might be the right person to approach.

It was just as she was about to give up that she gave the restaurant one last sweeping glance and suddenly did a double take.

Jack looked down at the -Email in her hand, then back up again. Yes, there was no doubt about it; the back of that laptop over there had exactly the same crest on it as the E-mail did!

Nervously Jack approached the very back of the restaurant. When she was just a few steps away, a very fat man wearing a suit looked up from his large laptop and smiled at her.

'Ah, Jack. I took the privilege of ordering a salami pizza for you, I hope you don't mind?'

'That's fi **—** ' Jack started to say, before stopping herself. Pizza! Who cared about pizza? That wasn't what she was here to talk about.

Surreptitiously checking behind her for any visible signs of danger, Jack pulled up a chair and asked in a low voice, 'Who are you? How do you know him? Where is he? How is he?'

There was desperation in her voice and in her wide, wild looking eyes. The large man was unperturbed though, and after calmly closing his laptop, replied. 'My name is Smithers.' Recognition dawned on Jack. She had heard Alex mention that name before. She dug up what she could remember about him. It wasn't much because she and Alex avoided mentioning anything to do with his missions if they could. Wasn't Smithers the one person at MI6 that her charge had said he could stand? Wasn't he the man that gave him those clever gadgets that had helped save his life over and over again?

Jack relaxed a little in her seat. But not much, it could still be a trap.

Though he had appeared to be fiddling with his laptop, Smithers had been watching the harassed looking young woman in front of him and had noted the subtle changes in her demeanour.

'Am I right in thinking that you know then how I and young Alex became acquainted?'

Jack nodded mutely. She knew only very little about the man in front of her, but Jack thought it was best that he thought she knew more then she really did.

'Well then, I guess it's on to the more important matters, Miss Starbright.'

Jack didn't question the fact that he already knew her name and leant forward slightly as she waited for him to answer, not realising that she was holding her breath.

'It's a very bad business, very bad indeed…'

He then caught sight of the look on Jack's face and hastily made amends.

'He's not dead! Lord no, and he's not likely to be anytime soon.'

Well, at least that was something. He was still alive. But she had so many questions to ask. Jack opened her mouth, words forming, but before she could utter any, Smithers raised a pudgy hand to silence her.

'I believe you asked for the boy's location?' Once again Jack nodded her consent.

'For reasons that will soon become apparent, but not for the ones that you will immediately presume, Alex is being kept in Cold Hall Hospital for the Criminally Insane.'

'Criminally insane!' Jack squawked in outrage, 'But Alex isn't a criminal. He's not insane!' Several people glanced around at her curiously.

Smithers made large, quieting motions with his hand.

Jack wondered why he had even arranged to meet her in such a public place. But that brief thought was quickly pushed aside as people returned to their food and Smithers continued.

'I know, I know. Alex is no criminal, nor is he insane. I mentioned before that he is not there for reasons you would first expect.'

Here he sighed and closed his eyes for a second, as though praying to the lord for the strength to say what must be said.

'Alex's case is an unusual one. Very unusual. And you have every right to disbelieve what I am about to tell you. But you must understand that the boy is too dear too me, and the situation too serious for me to drag you out here for a joke. I don't know as much about what's going on as I would like, and I'm not really supposed to know any of it at all.'

Mr. Smithers paused to pull out a clean, ornate handkerchief from some pocket or other. As he used it to wipe his brow Jack glimpsed the same emblem that had been on both the email and his laptop embroidered on one edge in silver.

Inside Jack was screaming,  __ get on with it, get on with it! _ _ But she refused to let the bubbling anxiety threatening to consume her whole being show. Below the table though her hands were clenched into tight fists, her nails leaving red half moon crescents on her palms.

'You see the bosses at MI6 never tell anyone everything that's going on. They have to stay one step ahead of everyone else, even their own agents. Of course it's not always just that. Sometimes they consider hiding things from people as being for their own good. It appears that this happens with Alex a lot. There are also some things that they know, that they themselves would much rather be ignorant of, or at least, I mean, there are things they wish were not true…' He trailed off, realising that he had startled to ramble.

In front of him Jack squirmed, desperate for Smithers to just cut to the chase and tell her what the hell had happened to the most important person in her life.

He cleared his throat noisily before speaking once again.

'For a long, long time now, scientists have been researching the paranormal and the supernatural. Most studies have proved these things to be utter rubbish to be honest, but there are a few government scientists who have been convinced for some time now that there is one myth that is not in fact a myth. As far as I've been able to find out, they cover their tracks amazingly well most of the time, but there have been slight slip-ups noticed by governments all over the world. Alone they could mean anything. Together they make for a seemingly unhappy coincidence. Or, if you are so inclined to believe, something much more sinister then that. Vampires.'

Jack had been hanging on to his every word, a frown creasing her forehead as she tried to work out how on earth all this was connected to Alex. When that one word alone was spoken at barely more than a whisper, all her anger and frustration erupted inside her.

Without making the conscious decision to do so, she found herself leaping to her feet, her chair collapsing backwards onto the floor with a clang, and her fist smacking down onto the table with an audible thud. Someone behind her let out a shriek of surprise but she didn't bother look round.

'That's, that's just…' she started heatedly, searching for the right word, before screeching, 'Crap! Utter crap! How can you sit there and talk to me about…' Suddenly Jack felt a light touch on her shoulder, and recoiling. Thinking she was in danger, she stopped in mid sentence.

But it wasn't two heavily built men in dark suits and sunglasses, come to arrest her. It was just a young, spotty and rather annoyed member of the restaurants staff. 'Miss, if you continue to upset our customers I'm going to have to ask you to leave.'

Jack was frozen somewhere between rage and disdain at what rubbish Smithers had been telling her, and the desperate hunger for news about Alex. That part of her begged her to stay, no matter how fruitless this meeting seemed to have been so far. For a second there was a desperate struggle inside her and the next she was carefully picking up her chair with a resigned sigh.

'No worries, I'm fine now,' she muttered to the angry-looking waiter as she sat back down, the hand with which she had hit the table a few seconds ago beginning to throb.

Jack gave Smithers a defiant look. She wasn't about to apologies for her outburst, but she would allow him to try and explain himself.

It occurred to her then that that was the second time during this conversation that he had correctly predicted her reaction in advance and warned her against it, only for her to act like that anyway.

But still, vampires! How the hell did he expect her to believe that not only did they exist, but that they were some way linked to Alex's absence? Had he seen a vampire and decided that the only rational experience after such a sight was to go nuts and rob a bank, leading to him being incarcerated in Cold Hall? No, that was just plain stupid…

'I would not believe it either if I were you,' Smithers said gently. 'In fact to begin with I hardly believed it myself. I thought it must be some sort of joke, till I dug a little deeper and found out all the computer files related to the one I had come across accidentally were heavily encrypted. And when I say 'heavily encrypted', I really mean it. It took me quite a while to get into those files, I can tell you. I hadn't had a challenge like that in some time!' There was a happy, wistful look on his face as he reminisced.

'But what did you find?' Growled Jack.

'Strange things, very strange things.'

'Like?' she prompted.

'Lots of garbled accounts of vampire sightings, several interviews with people claiming to have been bitten by them, newspaper articles on them from almost 50 years ago and reports on bodies that had all been strangely marked. Most of it was complete drivel to be honest, nothing I would give credit to, and very little proof. But there were some things that seemed as though they could be true, and notes along with them from very highly credited members of governments situated all over the world that claimed they were true. As I say, I found it very hard to believe. But all the bits added up to make quite a convincing picture, even if they don't really give much away about vampires.'

'But what's all this got to do with Alex?' Jack interjected.

Smithers gave a heavy sigh. (Though most things to do with the rather overweight man could probably be described as 'heavy')

'Well, you do know that he was stationed here in London to look into the suspicious deaths of many homeless people in the city?'

She didn't answer, instead, her thought process leaping ahead; Jack asked 'You think that  __ vampires _ _ were doing that?' There was scorn in her voice at the name of the creatures she refused to believe existed outside of books and films like Twilight.

Patiently, Smithers replied, 'Yes I do. I suspected from the start, but back then I still wasn't entirely sure that I believed they really existed. I am no longer in any doubt.'

He seemed so sure…but it was impossible, there were no such thing is vampires!

'If I had known what Alex was going to find himself up against…well, I would have done all I could to stop them sending him on such a mission, though I have very little power when it comes to that sort of thing. Or anything at all for that matter. I suppose I could have threatened to send out a virus that would practically destroy their entire database. Yes, I'm sure I could have done that quite easily.'

He suddenly caught sight of the dangerous look in Jack's eyes and decided it was wise to return to the matter at hand.

'But, well, I didn't know, so there was nothing I could really do, I'm afraid,' he said weakly.

Smithers flipped the lid of his laptop back up before continuing.

'Even now it appears nobody knows much about what actually happened to him. All that I've managed to discover is that late Friday night or perhaps early Thursday, he was attacked. First by a group of drunken youths, and then, shortly after it appears, by a **—w** ell, by a vampire. Alex managed to get away, which is more than can be said for a couple of the young yobs who first troubled him. I've found footage of him then running through the streets of London, clearly in a large amount of distress I'm afraid.'

'I know! I saw him!' Jack interrupted, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke the words.

'Is this what you saw?' he asked, motioning for her to come and look at the screen of his laptop.

And there it was again, those few painful seconds in which a bloody and wide-eyed Alex Rider was caught on camera. She nodded mutely and watched as other, terribly grainy images of Alex followed. They were obviously from security cameras that had captured glimpses of the teenage boy as he fled. As the last scene played out, of a car screeching to a halt and someone bundling Alex into it, Smithers paused.

'Look, there!' He pointed with one fat finger to part of the screen. Jack squinted at it but all she saw was darkness. The quality of this film was just terrible. Besides, it had been night at the time, meaning many areas of London were cast in gloom despite all the street lamps.

'I don't see anything.'

He moved the bar on screen a little further back then pressed play again.

'Watch closely.'

So Jack did, and then she saw it. A blurry figure appeared on screen and watched the car go, then seemed to turn away. And as it did so, Jack was sure that she saw a flash of red.

'I'm positive that that was the vampire.'

'Is that all the proof you've got to go on? A dark shape among other dark shapes on a few seconds of CCTV footage?'

'Oh no, it gets much worse than that, I can assure you. I have a friend who works for the government in a scientific and medical role. When I first confronted him about what I had found out about vampires, he denied everything. But he's a terrible liar, is Harry. He was there when they transferred Alex from hospital to Cold Hall, and he contacted me about him as soon as he could. Harry's a decent chap you see, knew from me mentioning Alex that I know the boy, though he doesn't know how. On the phone he accidentally let slip something of his condition that made me realise straight away that there was a strong possibility of a vampire connection. After a bit of wrangling I was able to persuade him to give me the location some very closely guarded images on their servers. No one else could have got to them but me, you know. And I could only do it because I designed the blasted system!

'And what I found...well, it's some very sensitive information, which to me leaves no room for doubt.'

He proceeded to show her dozens of images taken of Alex, all the time rambling on about how difficult it had been to get them. Jack barely heard a word of what he said as all of her concentration was on the images appearing on screen. Nearly all of them where of him unconscious, and the first ones showed him how he must have appeared when he was first brought in. There was a lot of blood. The wide shots made him look so vulnerable and hurt that Jack just wanted to reach out to hold his hand. Then came some close-ups of his wounds, mostly concentrating on the ones on his neck. It was clear that most of the blood had come from there, though the puncture marks were not evident until Smithers clicked forward to one in which the blood had been cleared away. There were several small gashes there. Jack stared at them in horror. They were not the two neat marks she had glimpsed in so many vampire films over the years. She could quite clearly see the marks left by a mouthful of teeth, far too vicious to have come from any human but the wrong shape to have been caused by any animal she could think of. That left just one explanation. One insane, impossible explanation. But there were no such thing as vampires! They didn't exist. If they did, surely the whole world would know about it! Though Smithers had said something about them covering their tracks well... No. That was just an excuse, it must be.

More images appeared, several showing the gradual healing of the cuts on his neck until all was left was a bit of bruising, and then nothing. More proof. More impossibility. There hadn't been nearly enough time for his neck to heal up completely without even a single scar to show for his troubles. But perhaps they had doctored the images? Made it look as though he had been attacked? But deep down, Jack knew they weren't faked. What would it achieve? MI6 had no reason to try and trick her into thinking Alex had been bitten by a vampire. If they wanted to get rid of her, lying to her that he was dead, or simply deporting her from the country on the next plane to America would have made for more sense than this. So it must be real. But it couldn't be.

Then came the pictures that made Jack's breath catch in her throat. They looked so real, so horrible, so painful and twisted that even Smithers stopped talking and just viewed them grimly, even though he had already seen them all before.

They were of Alex, clearly awake and strapped down tightly by thick plastic straps to a hospital bed. His eyes were wide open, but they were not the serious brown eyes that she knew so well. Instead they were so dark that it would have been impossible to tell where his pupils actually weere, if it was not for the red flecks that surrounded them like a still image of a swirling vortex. They couldn't possibly be real...Could they?

But if the colour of his eyes had been manipulated via computer, what could be the explanation for everything else? Like the look of utter agony etched into his features on one photo? Or the way he had his head thrown back in another, the picture immortalising a scream that she would never hear and yet could still feel reverberating around her skull? Jack couldn't imagine Alex ever snarling in such a freakish, inhuman way as he was doing a couple of slides later. Jack thought her heart was going to burst through her ribs as the images got worse and worse, showing the boy she loved so much looking more and more feral and vicious each time.

And then there were the fangs, pale blurs in many shots, and clearly glinting daggers in others. They looked so out of place, so wrong, and yet they seemed so real, not fake at all. Oh how she wished they looked fake...

By the time the slide-show had looped back round to the first picture Jack had both her hands over her face, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. No one else in the American style diner noticed though; she and Smithers were at a table tucked away at the back. If anyone had seen her, they wouldn't have been able to see what had upset the pretty, red-haired women, as the laptop screen was only visible from where she was sitting.

Not for the first time that night, Smithers let out a deep sigh as Jack dabbed away her tears (and quite a lot of make-up).

'I ran vigorous tests on them, hoping that it was just someone with a sick sense of humour and a lot of talent when it came to Photoshop had manipulated the images. But since when do many people get what they hope for? I'm as sure as it is possible to be with this sort of thing that these images have not in any way been tampered with. There is a short video that I found along with these, would you like to see it?'

 _Like?_ Like had nothing to do with it. Jack didn't want to see the clip, didn't want to see him in yet more pain. But she must do. One last piece of evidence.

Mutely, he passed her a set of headphones. They too had the now familiar crest on with and S inside. Jack slipped them over her head as Smithers plugged them in and brought up the footage. If Alex had been shown it, he would have been unable to recall a second of it. It had been one of the times in which the vampire inside him had erupted, snarling and writhing within the confines of the tough plastic straps, the boy that was Alex pushed too far within his own mind to be conscious of his own actions.

It was horrible to watch, seeing him like this. This wasn't like Alex at all. But at the same time there was no room for doubt in Jack's mind. It was Alex Rider.

When the clip ended, Jack tore off the headphones and slumped back down in to her seat, feeling as though all her energy had been sucked out of her. She felt numb and lost and confused and upset and angry and as though she was going to start crying again in a second. Her head was still trying to convince her that the idea of Vampires existing was far too ridicules to even consider, while her heart beat out the message,  __ It's true, it's true, it's true. _ _ As hard as it would have been for her to believe twenty minutes ago, she found herself trusting her heart.

'But what do I do?' Jack gasped, tears threatening to spill once more.

Smithers placed one of his large hands on top of her slender ones, the closest thing to comfort he could give her. 'There's not much you can do. He might never return to how he used to be, before he was attacked, I'm afraid. You're not even supposed to know. But I had to tell you, it was too cruel to leave you in limbo, not even knowing if he was alive. Now you must go home and pretend this meeting never happened. And you must stay strong for Alex. From what Harry told me, his condition will...quieten.'

'Is there a cure?' Jack asked.

Smithers shook his head. 'I don't think there's any way to change him back to human. I mean, I'm no expert on vampires, there might be. But from what he was saying, they believe there might be a way of calming him down. In fact, by the sounds of it, if all goes well there should be no reason why you can't see him again. I suspect though that MI6 will want to use him more than ever if he manages to get to a stage where he can integrate safely with people again.'

'No!' How can they? The bastards! It's their fault that he's like this! They did this to him...how can they...'

'I know, I know, Mr Blunt can be a despicable man at times. Nothing matters to him apart from his country. He would feed a thousand people to the vampires if it stopped them taking over England.'

Jack mumbled something about being able to understand that before Smithers returned to a slightly earlier strain of the conversation.

'I'm positive that someone else from MI6 will contact you. They can't just leave you in limbo like this.' Jack noticed that that was the second time he had said 'limbo', the place between heaven and hell where those who were unable to move on to either were trapped for eternity with no chance of escape. Well Jack wasn't about to let herself get trapped like that forever.

'It's too dangerous to them. I'm not sure what they will tell you, or how long it will be before your able to see Alex. It could be months, maybe even years.'

She would never be able to survive years without him.

'But at least you now know.' Smithers ended. Sensing that he had said everything he had come to say, Jack stood up and thanked him for telling her Alex was still alive, though the pain she now felt when she thought of him now was only marginally better than the uncertainty and fear before.

Just as she was about to leave, their food arrived with a surly apology about its lateness from a staff member. Jack stared down at it, feeling sick at the sight of food.

'I'm sorry. I've got to go.' There was no way she could eat it, even if turning the food down did seem a little rude.

As she hurried off she heard Smithers call behind her, 'No worries! I will eat it.' Which at least reassured her that it would not go to waste.

Now to go home and wait. For as long as it took.

 


	9. Medicine or Death

'How do you feel, Alex?'

'Fine, completely fine!' There was a hint of real happiness in his voice for the first time since he'd been bitten. It had been just under two weeks since the attack, and so much had changed since then. It was incredible, just incredible.

It was the assistant who asked him, a man whose name Alex now knew and who he gleefully called 'Mr Pain' despite his weak pleas to be referred to by his first name, Harry.

The other man who Alex regularly came into contact with was Mr Pain's immediate superior. He was a decidedly unpleasant man by the name of Victor Stone. He disliked Alex, never referring to him by his real name, just the 'subject or the 'patient', or if he was in a particularly bad mood, 'it.' So in turn the teenage spy called him 'Vic' or 'Vicky.' It was safe to say that the two of them would never fully see eye to eye.

On the subject of eyes... Harry Pain shone a light into each of Alex's eyes. 'Yep. I think that's about as good as we are going to get them.'

'What do you mean?'

'Here, check for yourself.' He passed Alex a small mirror from the desk next to him, one littered with a mixture of scientific equipment and rubbish. Several days ago Alex had finally been allowed off of the hospital bed. True, he could not leave this room, but it was a hell of a lot better than being tied down all the time. He felt as though it was going to take him a bit longer yet to get over the ordeal however, his back kept aching all the time and wherever there had been straps holding him down there were still faint red marks on him. Normally such injuries to a vampire would have faded away much sooner than this, but that was just it.

The face that peered back out at him from the mirror was at once so familiar, but at the same time, strange to him. This was the first time he had seen his reflection since he had been bitten. Not being particularly self conscious about his looks, he simply hadn't bothered until now. He also hadn't wanted to see the strange coloured eyes they had told him he now possessed, too frightened that they would remind him of that monster's.

'Wow, I look like a need some serious sleep,' Alex joked weakly, avoiding the important matter at hand. It was true though; there were unhealthy looking grey patches under his eyes. Eyes which just weren't quite right.

'They were black with red bits in before, so really, this is a vast improvement,' Harry Pain chipped in helpfully.

Alex lowered the mirror briefly, not wanting to look at his eyes, and then sighing, glanced again. 'But they're not the same as they were before, not quite...'

'I'm afraid that's pretty much going to be the summary of the rest of your life,' replied Harry.

Alex sighed again, knowing that there was no escaping what had happened. Before all this his eyes had always been dark brown, with a cobweb-like pattern of lighter brown trapped inside, the sort of thing most people have, if they look closely enough. Now they seemed darker than ever, though certainly not black like Mr Pain had said they were to begin with. What had really changed though was the flecks and whirls in his eyes. They might not have changed shape, but whereas before they had been a slightly lighter shade of brown; they were now more rufous coloured, as though they had become trapped between red and brown. Even when he stretched out his arm to move the mirror away from himself, this strange colour was still in clear contrast with the darker colours in his eyes.

Trying once more to reassure the boy, Harry Pain said, 'They might look different than before, but your eyes don't really look all that different from a humans, no one meeting you for the first time will consider them particularly odd.'

 _ _But your eyes don't really look all that different from a humans...__ _Alex_ flinched at that, still unable to comprehend that he was no longer human.

He didn't give a toss about what strangers thought about his eyes, but what about his friends? Sabina, Jack, Tom and a handful of others? How could he ever explain this to them?

 _ _Oh hi Tom, how you doin'? My eyes? Ah, well, you know what it's like, being a teenage spy was bound to lead to me bitten by a vampire one day, but hey, what can you do?__ Somehow, Alex felt that wouldn't really work.

'If you continue to take the medicine and tablets at regular intervals, it might get them back to normal.'

The medicine and tablets. These were why he was no longer tied down, why he was able to talk to a human being without ripping their throat out, why his eyes were no longer quite so freakish and strange. They had made such a difference to him. All the difference in the world.

After about his third day in captivity, he had first been injected with the medicine. It had been the only way they could have administered it, Alex still being so far gone. The improvements had been dramatic. When 'Vicky' had later explained its properties, their mutual dislike of each other had led to him being very brief and Alex not paying as much attention as he should perhaps have done, but from what Alex had gathered, the medicine, which was called Parabiteamol (A pun which had not amused Alex in the slightest), contained a potent ingredient which suppressed the 'vampire virus'. Like HIV and some other illnesses, vampirism had no cure, but there was medicine which could help to some extent. Unlike if he had HIV though, Alex would not die from vampirism, in fact, it sounded as though the blood samples they had taken from him had shown that he should be much better at regenerating cells then a human would be, and so should heal much quicker and live for longer.

However, Parabiteamol, as well as suppressing blood lust and such, also affected every benefit of being a vampire, which from tests on him in the early days they had discovered to be increased strength, heightened senses, better stamina, reduced vulnerability to pretty much everything from illness to injury, and as already mentioned, longer life and faster healing rate. The indiscriminate suppression of the vampire virus was why Alex was still in some level of pain.

'If I stopped taking the medicine, what would happen?'

Harry frowned, 'I don't think the effects would be instantaneous... more like you would find yourself slowly reverting. Depending on how strong the last dosage was and how long you had taken the tablets, it could perhaps be up to 24 hours before you fully revert...'

Alex solemnly nodded his understanding. This medicine was all that stood between Alex's life and death, for as 'Vicky' had told him after yet another experimental batch that had had unpleasant side effects on him (extreme vomiting mostly), 'If you don't start reacting properly to this stuff, we've been informed that we will have to put you down. The government can't risk a monster like you running round killing people.' It was this sort of thing that made Alex love this guy so much.

But luckily they had found a variety which appeared to have no negative effects on him, as far as they knew.

There was still something Alex felt suspicious about. If he was the first vampire they had 'captured' and so the first solid piece of evidence for their existence, how had they managed to manufacture this drug so quickly? Hadn't his chemistry text books from school mentioned somewhere that it could take around **twelve years** for a new medicine to finally be ready to be used on the general population? Though Alex wasn't exactly part of the 'general population' now, was he? It did seem as though he had, to some extent, been used as a guinea pig for this drug. Harry had vaguely mentioned something about it being made in theory first, but still, nothing seemed to quite add up.

He felt as though he could trust Harry Pain though. He was the sort of person who everyone should have as uncle, but hopefully not as a father. He was timid, too clever for his own good, never stood up for himself and probably didn't have the first idea of how to act around children. He was a fast learner though, with a heart of gold and due to a secretive, well paid job, plenty of money to spend on birthday and Christmas presents for nieces and nephews, as long as their mothers gave him some advice on what to get them.

If he had worked for some bad guy or other, instead of the (debatable) good British government, he would most likely have been the brains behind some terrible weapon or other that he believed he was creating just for experimental purposes, before finding out its true purpose, nervously standing up to the madman in charge and getting shot dead for his troubles. So over all Alex got on with him fairly well, when Harry wasn't flinching away from him that is.

The man in question cleared his throat in a nervy sort of way. Alex levelled him with an expectant and slightly unsettling gaze.

'I don't know if I've already mentioned to you...' One glance at the teenager was enough to hurry him on, 'But, ah, your people...'

'They're not my people!'

'Oh, okay, __some people__ have said that once the Parabitamol was sorted out, your re-integration with the public could start.'

Alex's eyes opened wide in surprise. 'What? Really? Are you sure? Already?'

He couldn't believe it! He had thought that MI6 would most likely want to keep him locked up out of sight for the rest of his life. Then he realised. Having a teenage spy at your disposal was one thing, but a teenage vampire spy was something else completely. And how could he escape their clutches when all that was keeping the blood lust and murderer at bay was medicine that he wouldn't be able to get from anywhere but here?

How he hated them, now more than ever before. They had sent him up against an opponent they must have suspected he would face, without even a warning and now that this had happened, their grip of him had become stronger than ever.

'Apparently your, I mean, __the people__ want you out of here and starting your rehabilitation as soon as possible.'

Anger bubbling up inside him, Alex muttered, 'And you're sure no one from MI6 has come to see me?'

'Positive. No one else is even _allowed_ to see you, just me and Victor Stone.'

'But on whose orders?'

'Ah...'

It didn't surprise Alex really; they would know how angry and dangerous he was now and would likely avoid contact with him for as long as possible. It wasn't going to work, the longer they stayed away the more bitter he became. And he wasn't about to swallow the story about both Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones both being off in China and being unable to leave yet. How cosy.

Even if that story was true, what about Mr Crawley, or any of their other agents? And Smithers. He hadn't even sent a card.

'Well... Any idea what is meant by 'rehabilitation'?'

Harry Pain frowned hard, as though trying to remember some forgotten scrap of information. 'Something about the SAS, a think.'

'What?' Alex asked in surprise, 'Brecon Beacons? Again?'

Once again Mr Pain thought hard about it. Alex could see from the expression on his pale, bespectacled face that he had just remembered something and was feeling quite pleased with himself.

'Oh, ah, I don't think so... I wasn't told much about it, not my department really you see. Something about a security scare there. It's in Wales, right?' Alex nodded

'Well I know you're being sent to somewhere in the Lake District.'

That triggered a memory. Hadn't that journalist who had threatened to expose his spying thought he had been trained in the Lake District?

'But why?'

Harry shrugged apologetically, 'As I said, I don't get told much of this stuff, it's none of my business, but apparently MI6 want to see how much being bitten has changed you, and how well the medicine works.'

'By chucking me in with a pack of SAS soldiers?' Alex asked, making it sound as though he was being thrown to the wolves.

Harry scratched the back of his neck nervously as he replied 'Um, yeah, pretty much. I doubt they will know...ah, what you are, so I think you're going to have to keep that a secret.

That made Alex laugh briefly, 'As though anyone would ever believe me!'

'Ah, you may have a point there I'm afraid.'

'I'm guessing that I'm going to have to take a lot of medicine with me?'

'Oh yes, lots and lots, we don't want you...well, we don't want anything bad to happen, nothing that might get in the way of your 'rehabilitation'.'

So they were going to send him off somewhere with lots of parabiteamol, were they? Perhaps that would be his chance to escape! But where? Back to Jack? They would just catch him again there, and once the medicine and tablets ran out he would be a danger to all around him. So what could he do? Where could he go?

Harry Pain remembered something else. 'Oh, and a friend of mine asked me to pass a message on to you. Says he knows you, a man by the name of Smithers.'

'Smithers!' Alex cried happily

'So you do know him.'

'Yes!'

'Well he told me to pass onto you not to worry about Jack, he'd talked to him about what had happened to you...'

Alex laughed slightly.

'What's so funny?'

'Jack's a woman!'


	10. Here Comes Trouble

Wolf slammed the door behind him and sat down heavily on the nearest bed in the cabin, which just happened to be his own.

One pair of eyes watched him curiously but two others didn't even bother looking up. For a few seconds no one said anything, until Eagle spoke up. Without looking up from the battered paperback book he was reading, he removed a cigarette from his mouth and asked, 'So, what did the sergeant want then?'

Finally having received the right dramatic cue, Wolf spat, 'Cub!', while waving around a thin file above his head.

Calmly, as though he wasn't surprised, Eagle took another drag on his cigarette, turned the book upside down so he wouldn't lose his page and finally looked around at Wolf. His blank face and impenetrable dark-grey eyes giving away nothing of what he was thinking. As usual.

'So he's gonna pay us a visit, is he?'

'Yes! They're sending him here to train. With us. again!'

Osprey glanced up from the gun he was cleaning with a rag so grubby that was probably just spreading the dirt around rather than getting rid of it.

He was a large, muscle bound man, with an arrogant look to his face and a lot more brains and charisma then first impressions might convey. He was the sort of person who others had always wanted to hang out with at school, not for his lovely personality, but because people thought that being associated with him made them seem cooler and stronger than they really were. This strange sort of gravitational pull he had that had started in the playground at primary school was still in effect to this day.

'Cub... You've mentioned that name before, right?'

'Yeah,' replied Eagle. 'He was the kid that Special Ops sent to train with us for a week or so...hmm, about a year ago. That was back when we were training at Brecon Beacons but were still SOD of MI6, not SAS. But Wolf can probably tell you more about him, can't you? Didn't you say you bumped into him again?'

The only man who hadn't said anything so far spoke up now. He went by the codename of Tiger and there was something about him, though impossible to quite pinpoint, made the name seem very appropriate.

'A kid? What the hell do you mean? How old are we talking about here?'

'Uh...' Wolf opened the file he was still clutching and pulled out the three pages stapled together inside so that he could read them.

'Says here he's fifteen. Must have been fourteen then last time round. Christ, didn't realise he was that young, did you, Eagle?'

'Yeah, I did,' came the short reply.

Wolf frowned. Eagle was always like this; he never minced his words and hardly ever seemed surprise. It was as though he had been able to see into the future all his life, and by now had got pretty bored of the talent.

Trying to straighten out the facts, Tiger said, 'So you're telling me that MI6 sent a fourteen year old boy to Brecon Beacons for a few days?'

'Pretty much.' Wolf replied.

'Ha! His parents probably used a load of money and special connections to get him in. They must have been real pissed off when he gave up,' Osprey smirked.

That was a stupid theory, and one that made Tiger laugh. Osprey hated being laughed at and if it had been anyone else they would have been in real trouble. But this was Tiger and the two of them had been good friends for a long time now, always sticking up for each other, usually at the expense of someone else.

'No,' Eagle stated bluntly. 'That's completely and utterly illegal. No amount of money could get an under-age kid into SAS. You have to be sixteen just to join the army, remember? As for special connections, well, you'd have to be royalty.'

Wow, thought Wolf. Eagle rarely came out with so many words in a row. Not that he was thick, just that he liked to find out what everyone else knew on a subject, before revealing he'd been holding all the aces all along.

'But special operations sending a kid here isn't illegal at all? Anyway, he didn't give up, Os,' Wolf pointed out quickly, using Osprey's nickname. 'MI6 called him back in for some reason or other.'

'What would MI6 want with some little brat?' Osprey snorted derisively.

'Beats me.' Eagle shrugged, 'As I said, Wolf knows more than me. You said you ran into him again, didn't you?'

'Yeah,' Wolf nodded. 'One of the strangest things I've ever seen. And it wasn't so much as running he was doing, more like snowboarding down a mountain..On an ironing board.'

Osprey and Tiger exchanged incredulous looks and Eagle smiled slightly to himself. Wolf made a surprisingly good story teller.

'An ironing board?'

'Yep. It was my first assignment as part of the SAS, Fox and Snake had already gone their own ways by then and Eagle was on a different assignment. We'd been told to keep an eye on the bottom of this mountain in France you see. There was some sort of academy at the top of it which MI6 suspected was connected to some kind of dodgy stuff goings on. You know what it's like with them. We were told that an agent of theirs had managed to infiltrate the academy. We all thought he must be posing as a teacher or guard.

'We'd been there just a few hours when a couple of Land Rovers appeared. They were acting suspiciously but before we could do anything about them, we spotted someone heading down the mountain side. Fast. Actually, more than one person, he was being chased. But by the time the ground levelled out he had managed to get rid of them, and they had been on snowmobiles and armed with guns by the sound of it! Man did they make impressive explosions when they crashed! I'm surprised neither of them caused an avalanche.

'Well, none of us were in any doubt that the guy racing towards us must be the agent we had been sent to look out for, and there he was, doing all the work for us. But then those damn Land Rovers came out of hiding, the men inside armed with machine guns. We should have dealt with them while we had the chance, but how were we supposed to know what was going to happen next? The agent saw the danger before we did and then suddenly this train went past in front of him and he somehow managed to use his momentum or something to actually land on top of the speeding train! Got him out of the way of the bullets, but unfortunately for him the train curved around a bend and he didn't! Went flying off it and luckily for him he was caught by some fencing that, you know, sort of reduced the impact when he finally hit the ground...on his head. Though I guess he wasn't so lucky that the fencing had been topped by barbed wire…

'The Land Rover men got away quickly and we were left with what we thought was a dead special operations agent. But surprisingly he was still alive, and more surprisingly he was just a kid! Most of the others had been at Brecon Beacon when Cub was, but I don't think anyone else recognised him though; he had his hair cut a lot shorter.

'And then, as the ambulance took him away, someone held up the snowboard he had used, except it obviously wasn't a snowboard, it was an honest-to-God ironing board!'

Tiger laughed to himself as he tried to imagine someone snowboarding down a mountain on an ironing board.

'Well that sounds weird,' Osprey muttered grumpily.

'It was,' Wolf confirmed. 'He was all right and managed to be... persuaded to return to the academy to show us the location where a load of rich peoples' sons had been locked up. In fact, it was when I was trying to save his arse from some big ugly weight lifter type women...' Here Osprey let out a snort of disbelieving laughter. Wolf had to save this Cub kid from a woman? 'that I ended up getting shot,' Wolf concluded as he gestured vaguely towards his arm, where he had been hit by the bullet.

Changing the subject slightly, Tiger asked in a nonchalant way, 'So...what does this teenage agent guy look like?'

Wolf shrugged. 'Ah, blondish?'

With a sigh Eagle stood up and headed over to the shorter, darker man. 'There's a picture attached to the file, isn't there?' Wolf glanced down.

'Oh yeah, there is.' With that he offered the paper up to Eagle, who took it and retreated back to his bunk.

Wolf had already skimmed through what little information was given in the file. A good chunk of information was simply listed as 'classified', which annoyed the unit's leader but didn't surprise him. MI6 wasn't about to make all the sensitive information on their little pet spy available to just anyone, now would they?

Both Osprey and Tiger scowled at the way Eagle was given the information first instead of one of them, especially since it was Tiger who had asked about the boy's appearance to start with. Then again, their leader had known the other man for longer then the two of them. Still, they were supposed to be a unit, weren't they?

'Yup, fifteen years old, atheist, (well doesn't sound much like a religious guy anyway), British Caucasian, (same old, same old), heterosexual, (bet he gets lots of girls...)' Eagle muttered to himself as he read, then in a louder, jokey voice he told Wolf, 'Says here he's straight, hard luck mate!'

Wolf, who had had a string of girlfriends and was in no way interested in members of his own gender, threw a boot at Eagle's head.

While the two of them began to fight over the offending article of clothing, Tiger took the opportunity to snatch up the file and return to his bunk with it.

It was the picture that Tiger was most interested in. Oblivious to the scuffle that had broken out in front of him, he studied the photograph. It was obvious from the direction of the boy's gaze that he had been aware of the camera, and from the slight frown on his face that he hadn't wanted his picture taken. It seemed pretty recent as well, as Cub appeared his full fifteen years at the very least. (In fact the photo had been taken just a day or two ago by Victor Stone.)

It showed a serious looking boy who, as Wolf had said, was blond, with brown eyes that seemed just a little strange in a way Tiger couldn't quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was just the angle the picture had been taken at, or something reflecting into his eyes, or even just the effects of the lighting. His skin seemed pale and completely void of the spots and marks that people his age, particularly boys, spent all their time battling with. Without conscious thought, Tiger reached up a hand and brushed the skin along his own hair line. Though the spots there there were barely visible, he still felt self-conscious of them. He felt slightly jealous of Cub already. Why should the boy have perfect skin when he himself had been plagued by mild acne as a teenager, something he had only begun to grow out of a few years ago? It had, in his view, ruined his good looks at the time. He was proud of his handsome face, coppery brown hair and bright blue eyes, and getting lots of spots had terribly effected his self esteem.

As Wolf growled at Eagle to grow up and give him his boot back, though in much stronger language than that, Tiger continued to study the photograph in his hands. The boy appeared to have relatively long eye lashes and a nice bone structure, but his slim lips and slightly chiselled looks meant that he could never been mistaken for a girl.

The more Tiger looked, the more he saw that he liked. At the SAS camp he was surrounded by large men as strong or stronger then him. They weren't his type at all. He had been bullied very badly as a child, and those bigger and more powerful than himself held no attraction for him. He always had to be the one in charge in a relationship. The dominant one. Whether it was a man or women that he had set his eyes on this time, for both sexes held their own appeal to him. He preferred slim, pretty, young, blonde women who knew how to look after a man and who would do all they could to impress him. And when it came to men he still liked them slim, pretty, young and blond, but liked it much better when they had never had a boyfriend before, or even better, when they were in denial that they could ever love another man. It made the chase so much more fun. But which ever gender, once they had properly fallen for him with his charm and good looks, he would soon grow bored and go in search of new conquests.

And now it appeared that among these ugly weeds, a young and delicate rose was about to make an appearance.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

__Adore the petals of the rose but watch for the serpent beneath._ _

Once again Alex Rider was being grossly underestimated by someone with dark intentions, at their own peril. He was no 'delicate rose', he had survived far too much to ever be classed as 'delicate' and as for a 'rose', weren't roses well known for their sharp thorns? And of course, Alex was not some naive and vulnerable child for Tiger to toy with, he was in fact the true top predator, not Tiger or any other solider here. No matter how tough they were, it was the boy soon to join them who was far more dangerous then any of them.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Alex stifled a yawn. He had been sitting in this car with its blacked-out windows for around six hours now, with just one brief stop at a service station, and was now thoroughly bored. He wanted to ask how much longer it would take to reach their location up in the Lake District, but there was a partition between him and the driver in front, similar to the ones in taxis, but much. Anyway, the driver didn't seem like a particularly chatty man. Serious and silent seemed to be the default setting for government men with dark glasses and guns tucked away were they think no one can see them.

With a sigh Alex leant back and rested his head against the tinted window that allowed him to see about, but blocked him from sight. Though they were still on a main road, the surrounding countryside was starting to get hillier and craggier as they drove along, making the teenager assume that it couldn't be a great deal longer before they finally got there.

It felt so strange being trapped away on his own like this, but surrounded by life on all sides as other people in their own cars made their way about their normal lives. Even stranger had been driving through London, with its roads and pavements bustling with life. These people enjoying the mild spring weather had no idea that Alex was passing so close to them, now trapped as a creature they didn't even believe existed. For them nothing had changed, for him everything. He was classed as a threat to their very existence, and if anything went wrong at the SAS camp he would never be allowed to mingle with them ever again. Victor Stone had made it very clear as he explained the situation to Alex, a smug smile on his face. If he hurt anyone, anyone at all while he was there, he would be deemed unfit to associate with the human race. He would be put down. From what 'Vicky' said, it was obvious that if he had been any other 15 year old boy, they would have never given him a chance. Vampires were the enemy, something to be studied, kept hidden from the public, experimented on if they could, and then killed. But he was Alex Rider, and it was their fault this had happened in the first place. Maybe letting him live on as a distorted, freakish version of himself was their way of apologising. Or perhaps they simply thought that he could be an even better weapon for them now, if he could control the vampire blood lust inside him now. But if he was going to bite every neck he saw, what use would he be then? They might as well cut their losses and kill him off...

Alex found a strange conversation play through in his mind as he imaged what the neighbours would say if he died.

_'Did you hear about the Rider kid?'_

_'Oh yes, terrible business, hit and run accident they say'_

_'Yes, though no seems to have actually seen it happen. Apparently he was involved in some sort of drug gang. I bet it was one of their enemies that did it!'_

_'Really? Well then, I don't understand why that Jack women was so upset, its not as though she was even related to that delinquent child.'_

_'No, and I expect she will be off back to America after his funeral is out of the way, nothing more to keep her here.'_

_'Well! The rumour goes that she has to leave after the funeral, her visa expired years ago!'_

_'Really? Bloody foreigners! I also heard from somewhere or other that she had a big argument with a man at the funeral place. Wanted an open casket, but they wouldn't allow it.'_

_'I should hope so too, disgusting idea, I have never understood the appeal of having a dead corpse out on display, especially one that's been in an accident'_

_'A bit strange though, I mean, I've never been to an open casket funeral, but why would they not allow it? What have they got to hide?'_

But as long as he was on his best behaviour, he should be fine, right? Not really... sure, he would live, but MI6 had him well and truly caught. He had considered running away once he got to the camp, but it appeared they had already thought of that, and so had told Victor to inform him that if he ran away, killed anyone, or gave away what he was, his life would be pretty much forfeited. They couldn't risk having him around if he was anything less then perfect.

To help him stay in control they had supplied him with enough medication to keep a whole army of vampires calm, or at least that's what it felt like to Alex. But it reassured him. If he did have to escape for some reason or other, he would be able to stay in control for quite some time with all the Parabiteamol he had, both in liquid and tablet form.

Harry Pain had taken the time to carefully explain the dosages to him. He must take two teaspoonfuls of the bottled medicine when he first woke up, at midday and just before he went to bed. However, the power balance was still shifting inside him, so this was only a basic precaution. If he felt himself slipping into predator thoughts, or being much stronger than he was used to, or thinking of blood too much, he would have to swallow at least two of the tablets as soon as he could. However, he should avoid taking more then three or four within one hour. They weren't entirely sure what the affects were. They were unlikely to kill him, but the more he suppressed the vampire side of himself, the more vulnerable he would become to the medicine's side-effects.

Closing his eyes, Alex looked deep within himself. Like a rotten tooth right at the back of his mouth that he couldn't help poking at, Alex could feel the sleeping power hidden within him. It was a strange sensation, being able to feel all those possibilities, all that danger right in the corner of his mind. Every time it made him flinch away, but like a painful tooth he didn't seem to be able to leave it alone. He felt as though he was baiting a sleeping lion, but as long as he stuck with the medicine, surely there was no reason for that side of him to wake up?


	11. Fresh Meat

'Look who's arrived, men!' It was the gleeful tones of the Sergeant in charge of the base as he kicked the door to their bunk open. He was a tall, wiry man in his early forties with a ridiculous little moustache and thinning hair. He had a high opinion of himself , paired with a low opinion of most of the men he commanded. This, along with his rather sadistic nature,  had led to him being loathed by the majority of them.  And unfortunately for Alex, he had taken a strong and immediate dislike to the boy.  Why send a bloody little kid into a grown man's world? It wasn't his job to look after children, he was here to train SAS soldiers! If the kid assumed he was going to get special treatment for being a special little boy, he was more than wrong.

'Will you look at this, it's a little Cub come running back to K-unit for more training. Play nicely now!' With that, he shoved Alex in the small of the back, propelling him through the door. He was disappointed when instead of falling flat on his face, the boy managed to snag the door frame with his finger tips, abruptly putting an end to his unexpected date with the floor.

'Evening training exercise in twenty minutes, lads!' the Sergeant barked as he strode away, not bothering to look around at K-unit as he did so.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Four grown men contemplated him in silence as Alex pulled himself back to standing.  There was an awkward pause until Wolf coughed to clear his throat and said, 'Well guys, this is Cub. You heard what the Sergeant said, he's going to be training with us for a while...again. Cub, you've already met me and Eagle. This is Osprey and Tiger.' He gestured towards the two of them in turn.

Osprey didn't give a reaction, but Tiger muttered, 'Hi.'

_ Well this could have gone worse, I guess.  _ Alex thought to himself. So far Wolf was going to act a little more politely towards him then before. After all, he'd introduced Alex as Cub rather then Double-0-Nothing, hadn't he? Perhaps after seeing a little of what he did at Point Blanc, he would cut Alex a little bit of slack? Alex wasn't about to take that possibility for granted, however. Wolf could go nasty any second now. So far as he could tell, Eagle was the same as ever, quiet and a little standoffish.

His first impressions of this 'Osprey' guy were not that promising. The look on his face indicated that he wasn't exactly pleased to meet Alex. The two of them were clearly going to get on like a house on fire, and Alex suspected he would be the one to get burnt.

As for the last man? Tiger had at least said hi to him. It was a start, but the way he was staring so intently at Alex, was a little off-putting.

'Hi.' Alex replied vaguely with a jerky little nod.

'You're at the back,' Wolf told him. For a second, Alex couldn't work out where he meant. Then he spotted the end of a metal bed sticking out from around the corner. The room was L shaped, with the bottom of the L making up most of the space. A door leading off to what was likely a small bathroom stopped it from being rectangular shaped instead. The tiny miniature room within a room hid part of Alex's new bed out of sight. There was barely enough room for the bed, but there because there simply wasn't anywhere else for it to go. The rest of the room was taken up by the other men's bunk beds and some large, battered old lockers.

He made his way over to his bunk and placing his bag on it, sat down. There was only a thin mattress on it an the whole thing creaked underneath his weight. Wonderful. It was clearly going to provide him with many nights restful sleep.

'Welcome to K-Unit's palace! We've got bunks, lockers, a floor, a roof, a few walls and of course, the magnificent en suite!' Tiger muttered bitterly. Alex looked up and was once again fixed by the man's x-ray stare.

Uncomfortable, Alex shrugged. 'I've seen worse.'

'Ooh, tough boy!' He heard the other unfamiliar soldier, Osprey grumble, with a roll of his eyes.

Alex frowned for a second, then decided to just let it go. There was no point in responding, he wasn't allowed to get into any fights, now was he? Alex didn't think that MI6 would be all that merciful if they heard he had ended up murdering one of his unit on his first evening there.

'So, Alex...' Wolf started, trying to ease the awkward tension in the room. 'How come your back here?'

'Classified,' Alex sighed in a resigned sort of way. 'I'm not allowed to tell anyone, just like last time.'

A derisive snort escaped Osprey.  Alex saw resentment and dislike flash in the soldier's pale brown eyes.

'The Sergeant said you were here for more training,' Wolf remarked. A smile smile tugged at Alex's lips. 'Yeah, that's pretty much-well, yeah. Just for a bit more training really.'

That was obviously not the whole story, but no one, even Osprey, asked further. They all had secrets, some more darker then others...

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

'As some of you have noticed, we have a child in our midst. His name is Cub and you are to treat him with the same love, care and respect as you would any other soldier here. However, because he is so 'special' his pack will be slightly lighter than all of yours'. I do so hope this will not in anyway harm your first brotherly bonding session, men.'

Alex glared down at his new, military regulation boots. He didn't trust himself to look at the Sergeant as he addressed the soldiers taking part in the evening exercise, which included nearly everyone at the camp. As for Alex being in their 'midst', that wasn't exactly true. He was standing right at the edge of the gathering. Osprey had disappeared, as though the sight of Alex was too disgusting to stand. The other three stood a couple of metres off from him but made no effort to include him in their group.

** as a tight knot of anxiety coiled up in his stomach, making Alex feel nauseous.  It had been bad at Brecon Beacon when he'd been a fourteen-year-old thrown in at the deep end with SAS soldiers after. In a way, he was closer to them now than before. A year older. A year wiser. Right? Most likely many of them had been shot at, threatened and attacked, so perhaps in that sense he wasn't so different to them any more. But really when it came to bad experiences, the ones he had suffered during the last year or so, far outstripped any that these soldiers may have faced in their entire lives. And then there was that other thing, the dirty little secret that had slammed down a steel portcullis between him and the rest of humanity. He could see them pass by, reach out and almost feel as though he was part of their world, but he could never again truly join them. **

Was it that that was making him feel so sick and angry and useless and bitter and sad and lonely? He felt so out of place, the beast boy trapped with the human men. He didn't belong here, in this camp, in the Lake-district, in the country, in the world. He felt so woefully out of place, so anxious and self conscious that no amount of mental threats to himself seemed able to lift the terrible burdening weight of doom and gloom off his shoulders.

He was used to putting on different personas, used to pretending to be someone he was not. Why couldn't he just do that now? But the gulf between what he really was and how he wished he could behave was just too great. Oh, he could act nonchalant and blasé about the whole situation, but he knew that cover-up was a thin mask indeed. He feared how easily someone else might accidentally rip it away. There was murder and power lurking at the edge of his mind. Would simple medicine be enough to keep it at bay forever? What if he became immune to the medication? What if it ran out? What if someone cut themselves in front of him? What might he do at the sight of blood?

_ Dark gushes of it, pouring down pale, vulnerable skin. Its taste in his mouth... _

With a shudder Alex reached into a pocket of the slightly too big army regulation jacket he was wearing. He had already slipped a packet of Parabiteamol in there. While the Sergeant explained to them where they were going to be going for 'this evening's little stroll', Alex surreptitiously checked no one was looking at him. He saw a curious glance or two in his direction but decided he would risk it.  Alex pushed the underside of a tablet in the middle until it tore through the foil above and then popped the Parabiteamol into his mouth, swallowing it dry with a grimace. He hated swallowing tablets without water, especially large ones like these. It was always better to swallow tablets down with water, it got them to your stomach faster and more comfortably. And perhaps it would have stopped Alex getting a nasty metallic taste on his tongue.

He looked up and pocketed the tablets again as the men around him started to move off. The Sergeant must have stopped speaking and told them to get on with it without Alex even noticing.

'Come on Cub!' a voice growled from behind him as Alex looked around, trying to work out what to do.

It was Wolf. He shoved a large backpack at Alex, which he caught just before it fell to the ground. 'Hurry up and put it on! We are going to be last at this rate.'

Osprey appeared, the other two K-Unit members a little way behind him. 'And if we end up getting kitchen duty because you messed up on us, I will kill you,' he promised angrily.

Oh dear. Alex had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he'd missed the Sergeant saying this would be a race. But looking at the others around them, no one had even left yet, so what was all the fuss?

Wolf disappeared and then quickly returned again, a map and compass held tightly in his hands. By then Alex had got the backpack on. It was as heavy as it looked and he was just relieved that he wouldn't have to be carrying ones quite as weighty as the others.

'Right,' their unit leader announced in a tone of voice that said:   _ I have come to a decision and your not going to like it.  _

'It's a case of taking the long hilly route and coming last or taking the still-very-long-break-your-neck-mountainous one and risk losing a unit member, but probably not coming last.'

'Break-your-neck,' Eagle voted firmly. Not that he really had a choice, it was clear Wolf had already chosen the more strenuous route.

A heavy hand clamped down on Alex's already over-burdened shoulders, threatening to make him crumple into a heap on the floor. Startled he looked up into Tiger's grinning face. 

'Well it was nice knowing you, kid.' 

Osprey gave a low laugh and Alex frowned as Tiger moved away to check the map over with Wolf. It appeared that Alex was the team member who had just been silently voted for as both the most likely to die, and the most expendable.

'Planning time's over girls, get a move on!' the Sergeant shouted. With a low curse, Wolf gestured to his Unit and they all headed off at a fast pace. Alex found himself at the back, just hoping he could keep up.

  
  


 


	12. The Not So Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Minor warning, this chapter contains a small amount of swearing and some creepiness from a certain character.)

The Lake-district, thanks to glacial action thousands of years ago, was a a distinctly hilly part of England. It was also a place of particular wild, natural, beauty. And sheep. There was a lot of hill-sheep farming on the more baron areas. Not that Alex spotted any sheep on his trek, or had much of a chance to appreciate the landscape.

Ian had brought him here once before, long ago, so the type of terrain was familiar to him. This area wasn't though. It was an absolute no-go area for tourists and farmers alike, reserved for army training only. SAS army training, to be precise. That didn't stop the odd hiker ignoring the leaflets and large warning signs, and ending up where they shouldn't be. Luckily for everyone, this was a rare occurrence.

And not one that happened that evening.

Alex trudged along at the back, following his unit a little way behind them. He had figured this was the best way to stay out of trouble, and unlike Osprey, he felt no need to argue with Wolf over which hill to climb or which valley to enter next.

He was certainly glad his backpack was lighter than the others' as they clambered over rocks and stepped over streams. He didn't remember the landscape being this extreme when he had last visited the lake-district. That said, he and Ian had stuck to the paths provided, even when they had gone on the tougher walks. The local council wasn't keen on tourists trampling all over everywhere after all. But here there were no carefully flattened paths or stone steps to take. Of course the government would want a more challenging area then normal to test their troops.

There were no other units in sight, they had all gone chosen different routes. This meant that they had no idea how far ahead or behind other units might be. Wolf  insisted on a punishing fast pace to make up for it.

As he stumbled along after the others, Alex found himself getting lost in his own thoughts. He mentally reached inwards to test how strong that other side of him was at the moment. With a jolt he realised he could sense dark thoughts stirring at the back of his mind.

_ That one...that one...back to us...wont see it coming...bite him... _

Alex fumbled with the tablets in his pocket and reached around to where of bottle of water resided in the side pocket of his backpack. Glad of it to wash the large, metallic tablets down, Alex swallowed two Parabiteamols.

They worked incredibly fast. Within  five minutes  Alex noticed the distant whispers recede again.

It was a couple of minutes later that he realised how tired he felt. It was as though all his energy and strength had been sucked out of him and it became, literally, an up-hill struggle to just keep up with K-Unit.

Glancing around, Wolf noticed this and called back to him, 'Hurry up Cub!' They paused briefly to allow him to catch up, Osprey making snide remarks all the while.

'Just knew it, he's going to make us lose! Well if he does, he can do kitchen duty by himself, I'm not going to pay just because he's too weak to stand the pace. Cant they just send him back home? He doesn't belong here!'

No one replied in agreement to Osprey's ongoing rant, but neither did they tell him he was wrong or tell him to shut up.

'Sorry,' Alex muttered, still out of breath as they moved off again. 

He had something new to think about now. Though this hike was hard work, he'd been doing fine up until now. Well, up until he had taken the tablets. They'd warned him not to take too many, or else they could start having a negative effect. How long had it been since he took that tablet just before they set off? Surely it was long enough ago that he should have been fine to take more by now?

 He thought about it until he came up with a possible theory. He'd been told that the medicine not only stopped the craving for blood, but also effected all other symptoms of Vampirism. That included added strength. The dark whispers in the corner of his mind had been quiet, and only noticeable when he had consciously sort out that side of himself. So perhaps even two tablets had been too much. They had quelled his vampire side, but because of the slight overdose, eaten into his normal 'human' strength as well. Not that he actually was human now, or had ever been able to class himself as 'normal', for that matter.

It looked as though Parabiteamol wasn't quite the miracle cure he had first thought it to be.

It irritated Alex that he'd managed to come across as weak on his very first evening at the camp. Alex decided he would have to be more careful about how many tablets he took during, or just before, a training session. There was no way he was going to let the likes of Osprey think he couldn't keep up. Perhaps he could even let a little of his supernatural strength come through, as long as the need for blood didn't become too overpowering? It could be a risky move.

Then again, either way was risky. On one hand he could take lots of tablets and keep the effects of the Vampirism at bay, but become as weak as a new born kitten. Or he could take less and excel at all the exercises, proving to everyone here what idiots they were in underestimating him, but risk the chance that he might accidentally get carried away and try biting one of them. It was a disgusting thought, that one. Imagine biting one of these men and drinking their blood? Alex pulled a face at the thought of it.

Of course, there was a third option that wasn't really an option at all. He could just stop taking the medicine altogether, give in completely to his blood-thirsty side and then most likely kill everyone here before being tracked down by the government and killed himself. Hmm...perhaps not.

'Almost there!'

Wolf's call jerked Alex from his reverie. He realised he'd fallen behind again. Panting slightly, he rushed up to join the others standing on the top ridge of a particularly large and rugged hill.

'What? According to these coordinates, it should be right in front of us! Right there!' Wolf said in frustration.

Alex made it to the top of the ridge and peered down to see what everyone was looking at. A lake. Well, this was the Lake-district, wasn't it?

In fact, they had hiked up the weathered edge of an arête and were now looking down into a corrie created by a glacier long ago. Freeze thaw had turned the side of the bowl-like land formation they were standing on into a mass of broken and pointed rocks. There was no way they would be able to climb down that way.

'It definitely says it should be right there,' Wolf barked at Osprey, stabbing a finger down onto the map in his hands and then down at the lake.

'Well you must have heard them wrong then,' Osprey argued.

As they argued, Alex turned to Eagle and asked quietly, 'Uh, what exactly are they looking for?' 

Being part of the unit, it would have made more sense for him to say 'we', not 'they'. But since he did not in fact feel like an actual member of the unit (a feeling that the rest of K-Unit most likely shared with him), 'they' seemed the most appropriate.

'A flag,' came the short but not grudgingly given answer.

Alex scanned the land and lake down below once again, noting from the dim shadows cast below that it wouldn't be long until dark.

'Oh, you mean that flag?' No one heard him.

Alex glared at their backs, which were all he could see of the rest of K-Unit, as they argued over the map.

In resolute tones, Tiger announced. 'Yep, you must of heard the coordinates wrong.'

'No I didn't!' Wolf replied angrily through gritted teeth, a split second before Alex said, 'No he didn't.'

At this the others seemed to remember Cub existed.

'Yeah, you would take his side, wouldn't you?' muttered Osprey.

'No, look,' Alex replied, pointing to a small outcrop of rock jutting out of the dark grey water below them. Affixed to it was several small, black flags.

With a small laugh, Tiger clapped an arm around Alex's back.

'Well done, Cub!'

Unfortunately, Alex had been leaning forward on the edge of the arête at the time and hadn't been expecting the move.

He let out a involuntary yelp of surprise as he suddenly pitched forward. He would have tumbled straight down the jagged corrie side if Tiger hadn't managed to snatch hold of a strap on his backpack as he fell.

A moment later, Alex's back slammed against the side of the cliff. One of his feet met an outcrop of rock, twisting it painfully but stopping his descent.

He stayed there, wide eyed and winded for a second until Tiger grabbed another strap in his other hand and hauled Alex bodily back onto the ledge. He ended up in an unceremonious heap at Tiger's feet, and accepted the proffered hand to help drag him back to his feet. Alex stumbled slightly to the side as he did so, the backpack shifting to one side and setting him off balance. Again Tiger was there to help him, steadying him.

'Sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?' Tiger asked, his bright blue eyes wide with honest shock.

'Ah, I'm fine, really. I'm just glad you caught me, that's all,' Alex replied, relieved laughter evident in his voice.

Wolf, who had started forward as Alex had fallen, but would have been much too late to catch him, let out a sigh of relief. 'Tiger, please don't try and kill Cub again.'

Alex was sure he heard Osprey grumble under his breath, 'Huh! Do us all a favour and just don't save him next time.' This drew a dark look from both Wolf and Tiger.

Osprey looked up at both of them innocently and asked in an equally innocent manner, 'What?'

Alex ignored him, his breathing and heart rate still faster then normal after his unexpected brush with death. His ankle hurt, as did his arms where his backpack straps had dug into him as Tiger had pulled him up. However, it was the  backpack that had stopped his back crashing into rugged rock, as well as given something for Tiger to grab onto, so he wasn't about to complain about it.

The five of them walked trekked down the side of the corrie and over to the lake edge. They all peered across at a small island in the middle of it, and the small flags sticking out of that. Then they looked round at each other, followed a few seconds later by all eyes turning to Alex.

'What? No way!'

'Well someone's got to do it,' Tiger said, pointing out the obvious.

'Why me? You just pushed me off a cliff, remember?'

The regret of a few minutes ago forgotten, Tiger answered, 'Yeah, but I caught you, didn't I?'

'You're not scared of water, are you?' Osprey asked mockingly.

'No...' Alex admitted.

'You can swim, can't you?'

'Course.'

'Well then, what's the hold up?'

'Just think of it as your initiation back into K-Unit,' Wolf informed him cheerfully.

'Righ,' Alex muttered mutinously. Then, having come to the conclusion that there was nothing else for it,  he repeated in a more determined voice, 'Right.'

With that he dumped his backpack and set off around the rocky lake edge, looking for where the island was closest to the shore. Deciding on a spot he looked down at the ground and saw a fresh foot print in the mud at the edge of the lake. Clearly they weren't the first to reach here, but the fact that there were still several flags left meant they weren't the last either, which was reassuring.

Resigned to his fate, Alex stripped off his shoes, socks, trousers and jacket, leaving him in a short sleeved top and boxer shorts. There came a wolf whistle (presumably not from Wolf himself) from the other side of the bank, followed by laughter.

Annoyed, and eager to get the whole trial over and done with, Alex stepped forward. His toes sunk into sun-warmed mud, but another step brought him into the shockingly cold water. Not wanting to show any weakness, he strode forward until it was deep enough to swim. Striking out with fast, efficient strokes, it didn't take long for Alex to reach the island. He scrambled roughly over the rocks and grabbed one of the small black flags out of the plastic holder keeping them up. For a second he thought about throwing the rest into the water to make sure that K-Unit couldn't possibly be the last back. But that simply wasn't the way he operated, so Alex dismissed the idea.

He was just about to make his way back into the water when he heard a shout. Looking up he saw another unit appear at the lake edge.

'Flag! Get us a flag, will ya?' A voice hollered over to him. K-Unit shouted something at them that was probably a ruder version of 'Bugger off and get your own.' Alex decided he didn't feel like listening to K-Unit right now, not after they sent him out here. Shivering as the evening breeze blew against him, Alex snatched up another flag and swam back to the shore.

He pulled off the soaking wet t-shirt plastered to him, and swapped it for his jacket, which he then zipped up to try and help warm himself up and to hide the scars he didn't want to have to explain. There were scars on his legs as well, which he covered up with combat trousers pulled on over wet underwear. Just as he sat down on a rock, trying to wrestle socks onto damp feet, the two units reached him.

The strangers came over, one of them thanking him for getting them a flag and saving one of their members a cold dip ion the lake, while another snatched the flag up and backed away from K-Unit in case they tried throwing it back into the water.

Osprey gave first them, then Alex a dirty look and told him angrily, 'You shouldn't have got it for them, you little bastard.'

'Hey, he was just helping us out,' pointed out one of the newcomers, a calm looking man with short golden-blond hair.

'Exactly!' Osprey spat.

'Clam down Os,' Tiger said resting a hand briefly on the other man's shoulder. Ospray shook it off grumpily but said no more on the matter.

Tiger then introduced Alex to the other unit, a grin on his face.'R-Unit, this is Cub. Cub, this is Bob, Liar, Buzz and Dawg.'

Alex couldn't help letting out a snort of laughter. R-Unit all scowled at Tiger, apart from the blond man that he had referred to as Liar, who rolled his eyes and then gave their real names. 'I'm Lion, this is Bobcat, Buzzard and Dog.'

All but Buzzard, a short man with hair cut even shorter then most of the other men, said hello to him. Buzzard ignored him and wandered off to have a quite conversation with Osprey. From the way the two of them glanced in Alex's direction every now and again, Alex figured that he was most likely the subject of conversation.

  
…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Alex collapsed back onto his bunk and let out a small sigh of relief. It was good to finally be dry again, and able to rest.

R-Unit had soon split off from them, leaving a decidedly soggy Cub to the tender loving care of K-Unit. It had been clear to Alex as he walked along, shivering in the cool evening wind, that Osprey had not approved of his actions. Then again, Alex had a feeling that even if he were to save Osprey's life the man would still having nothing good to say about him. Alex suspected there wasn't anything he could do to change the older man's hatred towards of him. It was a vicious and instinctive dislike that had sprung up before Cub had even had chance to give him a real reason for it.

Wolf was harder to read. It was likely that he disapproved of Alex helping out another unit, but it had also seemed as though Wolf was on friendly terms with Lion, who was R-Units leader. Perhaps this was the part of the reason Wolf was holding his silence, despite his tight-lipped frown. 

Alex had had no idea what Eagle thought, the man being as impassive and quiet as he was.

Tiger hadn't said anything on the matter, just locked eyes with Alex until he had grown uncomfortable and looked away, unable to work out what the look on his face meant. Tiger seemed a nice enough guy though, even if his constant staring made Alex feel a little paranoid . He'd offered Alex his own jacket to help warm him up, something that Alex had graciously declined. The teenager had ended-up regretting that during the long trek back.

But he was back at camp now, and had managed to grab a quick, warm shower and then get completely dried off. He stretched now, wondering where the rest of his unit was. After finding out that they had not come in third place, and having handed in their flag and equipment, each had gone their own way, leaving Alex to track down the shower block by himself.

He decided now would be a good time to move his few belongings into the battered locker nearest his bed. Alex paused when he felt a tangle of wires and pulled a black I-pod out of his bag. He stared at it in confusion. Sure he had an I-pod of his own, but he had left it behind in London. Besides, this one was the wrong colour. Perplexed, he turned it over in his hands, wondering where it had come from. Had someone else in his unit accidentally dropped it in? He couldn't see how that would be possible, his bag had been zipped up the whole time. Having no better idea of what to do with it, Alex turned it on and watched the screen come to life. Straight away it came up with a song labelled as  _ She Knows Now  _ from the album 'Good Look With the Future' by a band called 'Technology Rocks'.

_ It couldn't be... _

Alex fumbled for the ear phones and pressed play. Immediately a pre- recorded message started up.

'Hello old boy, I wasn't able to give you any gadgets this time I'm afraid, as you aren't on any sort of official mission, but I've had this prepared for you for some time, as a little thank you for all you've done to help the human race. I had planned on making it into a bomb, an 'I-explode', you know, but MI6 didn't approve... Utterly typical of them I'm afraid. It appears they don't want to make you any more dangerous than you already sre. Then again, they did send you off to an SAS camp full of hand-grenades and machine-guns and such, but please, don't let me go give you any ideas!

'The best I could do in the situation was to make your I-pod bullet proof, water proof, flame proof, acid proof, repeated blows from a blunt instrument proof and fall from a tall building proof.  It's also pre-programmed to respond to your touch alone, so any would-be thieves will find it useless.  I also took the liberty of copying all the songs off your old I-pod onto here, along with some recently released tunes. Load of rubbish if you ask me, but there you go. Oh, and make sure you take full advantage of the nice weather we are having at the moment, this I-Pod has solar-panels on the back!

'I'm sure I will see you again Alex, just stick to the medication and for goodness sake, no matter how much you get shouted at, no eating your superiors! It's just not the done thing in the SAS.

'Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't bother trying to listen to this message again, it wont be here next time you look. We can't risk someone else somehow managing to listen in to it, now can we? So I hope you were paying proper attention!

'Goodbye old chap, and good luck.

'Oh, P.s, read the postcard.'

With that the message ended and an exclamation mark inside a triangle flashed up, saying 'track not found'. Well. That was that. Alex was thankful to Smithers though. He might not have been able to do anything to help him right now, but at least he knew there was someone out there who wasn't about to abandon him just because of what had happened to him.

Alex put the I-pod aside and routed around for the postcard Smithers had  mentioned. He soon found it and gave the front; an image of London's Big Ben on a bright summers day, a searching look. Unable to spot anything out of the ordinary with it, he flipped the card over. On the back was a short, cramped message in Jack's handwriting, adorned with little emoticons scribbled next to the words.

_ MI6 finally got round to telling me that you caught a contagious disease o.o. They won't even let me see you! ;o; Don't worry though, even if you grow two heads or sprouted fur, I will always, be waiting here for you, no matter what. I can't believe this is all the room MI6 allowed for me to write to you though. =.= You've not become allergic to paper, have you? -Jack XXX _

Alex couldn't help the small, sad smile that tugged at his lips. He was sure she knew the truth from the track title on the I-pod. She knew what he was. But she still loved him. But Jack couldn't know just how sick he really was. Sick and twisted, soulless and evil. Well, he would be without the medicine. It was the only thing that stood between him and the monster within. Between life and death.

His expression turned to fierce determination as he stared down at Jack's postcard. Alex made a promise, then and there, to both himself and Jack. He would return to her one day, no matter how long it took, or what he had to go through. None of that mattered. He would keep on taking the Parabiteamol, keeping the beast at bay, and he wouldn't let anyone work out what he was. They could beat and torture him for all they liked, he wouldn't give them a reason to put him down!

Alex had no way of knowing it, but as his new-found conviction flooded through him, flecks of red flashed in his eyes.

He also had no idea that he would soon be forced to break his promise about not giving MI6 a reason to put him down in quite a spectacular and bloody fashion.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

'So,' Osprey said, leaning back against a tree and taking a drag on a cigarette, 'You like him, don't you?'

Tiger shifted uncomfortably, wishing he could have a cigarette too, but knowing that it had been for the best that he had quit.

'Well...yeah.'

Osprey snorted in disgust, throwing his cigarette butt to the ground and crushing it beneath his boot.

'Don't know what you see in him.'

'You never do.'

'Course not. 'Cos I'm straight.'

The two of them had been good friends for some time now, their friendship sealed by the dirty secrets each knew about the other. They trusted each other because they had to. Both had found out things that could ruin the other, and if one let a secret slip, the other was sure to bring his friend down with him.

'And you don't like him, do you?'

'Course not, I mean, what the fuck does MI6 think it's doing, sending a kid here? Bloody stupid idea if you ask me. That cocky little bastard doesn't belong here.'

Osprey was acting as he usually did, hating anything strange and new, anything that threatened his place in the world in anyway at all, anything he didn't understand.

'Sexy cocky little bastard,' Tiger replied, though he hadn't thought Cub had acted cocky or like a bastard at all.

Osprey let out another sound of disgust, partly at his words, but mostly at the dreamy look that had appeared on Tiger's face.

'You want to hurt him, don't you?' Tiger asked suggestively, before laughing at the look on Osprey's face.

'I mean like, you want to teach him a lesson, don't you?'

Unable to tell if Tiger's words still had sexual connotations or not, but feeling aggressive now, Osprey found himself curling his hands into fists.

'No. Well, yeah, maybe. I mean, not like... though...that cocky little bastard needs showing who's in charge here!' He had always been one to settle things with his fists...

'Good,' Replied Tiger with a deceptively charming smile.

'Uh...what?' His friend asked, confused. 'I thought you liked the guy?'

'Oh, I do, I do. But will you do me a favour? Hurt him for me.'

Osprey stared at him as though he had gone insane.

Seeing this as a cue to explain, Tiger went on, 'You see, you hate him, I like him. There's a way we can both use this to our advantage. He appears to be a pretty independent type of guy. If you just happened to whack him around the head one day for doing something stupid, I very much doubt he would tell anyone. But if it were to escalate perhaps...  He's just a kid, I'm sure he would confide in someone if they were to ask the right questions, offer comfort. And I would make sure I'm that person. You be the bad cop. Be as aggressive as you like. I'll be the good cop, the one he runs to, the one he comes to trust... the one he comes to feel as though he owes a favour or two...'

'What if we're caught?' Osprey asked bluntly.

Tiger replied in placating tones, 'We wont be, we wont be. I will make sure he believes the more people who find out he can't even stand up for himself, the worse things will get. You know I'm good at that sort of thing.'

'Yeah, manipulation and mind games.' The other man growled, folding his arms and wondering if Tiger was trying to manipulate him right that minute. Most likely, but he didn't care, his friend was always coming up with clever little schemes to get his own way and Osprey had never come to any harm because of them. Yet...

'Yeah, OK, what ever,' He agreed dismissively, reaching in his pocket for another cigarette.

'You'll do it then?' Tiger asked.

'Sure. So long as we don't get caught.'

'We wont, trust me.'

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Later that night, as Tiger crept past Alex on his way to the bathroom, he paused to stare down at him, fast asleep in his bunk. He studied every aspect of the boys face, trying to commit it to memory, from the blond hair turned to silver by the full moon shining in through the window, to his lips, devoid of the slight frown that they had sported while he was awake. He really was cute, Tiger decided, his heart full of longing and joy at the new toy fate appeared to have brought for him. Just for him, no one else. Tiger had a possessive personality, as well as an obsessive one. And unfortunately for both Tiger and alike Cub, Alex was his new fixation. Both of them would come to suffer from his decision to try and pursue the boy who was both a reluctant spy and a reluctant vampire, but who would be a far far more reluctant lover, for there was no way that he would ever accept Tiger's advances.

 


	13. And then the Heavens Open, but Not for You

As expected, his first couple of days at the camp were not exactly the happiest of times, but he survived without anything particularly unexpected happening. The other soldiers either stared at him out of the corner of their eyes and glanced away when he looked at them, or glared openly at him. It was apparent to Alex that the latter were friends of Osprey. His strength and perchance for violence, along with some sort of strange charisma all but Alex seemed to see in him, had led to the other man having quite a lot of his fellow soldiers looking up to him as a sort of unofficial leader. Their respect for Osprey didn't stop the constant taunts and teasing that K-Unit had to endure thanks to their young new unit member. They were the same kind of repetitive jokes that Alex had heard back at Brecon Beacons, so they didn't effect him all that much. They certainly ruffled Osprey's feathers though. He seemed to grow to hate Alex even more with every passing hour.

So far his anger had merely manifested itself in snide remarks and the odd boot stuck out to try and trip Cub up, two things that he could cope with, and on the second account, easily avoid with an accuracy and grace that surprised even himself, though he knew the reason behind his newly found increased flexibility and decreased reaction time.

Alex had stuck to the silent promise he had made himself, and watched his consumption of the tablets carefully. He took the liquid medicine three times a day without fail, saying when asked that it was to keep an old chest infection at bay. Alex monitored himself constantly to make sure he took the tablets only when he felt he really needed them, but before he became a danger to those around him, and not just before or during an exercise if he could help it (though some went on for several hours, forcing him to take a tablet or two anyway).

However, on his third day he came dangerously close to revealing his secret, when Osprey decided to act on Tiger's request.

 

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

  
Alex walked around the corner of a building on the edge of the camp, looking down at the ground. He was minding his own business,  deep in thought as he tried to work out how long it had been since he had taken his last Parabiteamol. 

Then something hit the side of the head..

The force of the blow sent him crashing into the wall behind him, and then onto the ground below. The immediate flair of pain from his head was terrible, but it was the unexpected pain in his mouth that caught his attention. Head throbbing and hands clamped tight over his lips, Alex glared up in confusion at the figure of Osprey standing above him.

'Bastard!' The oath was muffled behind his hands, but still audible to Osprey. He reacted by giving Alex a cursory kick in the ribs.

'Oh come off it, I didn't even hit your mouth!' he said derisively, rolling his eyes at the teenager on the ground in front of him.

Alex scrambled to his feet and took a step back from the older man,trying to get out of range. Taking a risk, he moved his hands from his mouth long enough to spit blood down onto the ground beside him, then raised them again. He needed to, to hide the sharpened teeth that had burst through his gums when Osprey punched him. There was no way he could explain them to Osprey if he saw, and no way he could allow him to see in the first place.

Alex was Angry. Angry at himself for not seeing the blow coming, at MI6 for letting this happen, at the vampire who had bitten him, at the vampire blood flowing through his veins and at Osprey for having just punched him. 

His irises darkened as his anger grew, and the red flecks brightened.

Luckily for Alex, Osprey didn't notice.

Keeping his eyes on Osprey, Alex reached into the pocket he kept his tablets and popped out two of them. He swallowed them down, being careful not to let Osprey glimpse his teeth. As he did so Osprey took a couple steps towards him. Alex took a couple of steps backwards.

'What the fuck is up with you, Cub?' He growled, confused and angered by his odd behaviour.

Incensed, Alex shot back, 'What the 'fuck' is up with me? You're the one who punched me! I wasn't even doing anything,  you just came up and punched me!'

Ignoring Alex, the taller man peered down  malevolently at him. 'And what the hell's up with your mouth?'

Spitting blood out again, Alex sneered, 'What do you think?'

He pulled away as Osprey made to slam him against the wall. He should have been able to avoid the attack, but the tablets were already taking effect. With a grimace of pain Alex's back and head came into contact with hard brick.

Just as Alex was wondering if the world really might be conspiring to give him brain damage on top of everything else, he found Osprey glaring at him at uncomfortably close quarters. He had his forearm across Alex's chest, pining the boy to the wall with his superior weight. 

'Look kid, I don't know why you're here, and I don't care. But either you start playing by my rules or you get the fuck out of here, you get me?'

Alex glared right back at him, the strange colour gone from his eyes but not the anger. It perforated every syllable as he hissed through teeth that were mercifully already back to normal;

'Look, I don't want to be here, Okay? But I can't leave. I don't know what your problem is, but just leave me alone and there wont be any trouble.'

It was hard to breathe with the soldier leaning on his ribcage, and even harder to talk.

'Trouble?' Osprey laughed. 'There's going to be trouble. Lots of trouble. Because you see kid, I really don't like you. And things I don't like tend to get hurt.'

'That has to be the shittiest veiled threat I've ever heard.'

Osprey wasn't sure what 'veiled threat' meant but knew he was being insulted. He'd hurt the boy for that. He drew back his free hand and delivered a short, sharp punch to Alex's stomach.

Alex let out an involuntary gasp. He crumpled to his knees as the soldier released him, his eyes fixed dazedly on the army regulation boots in front of him.

Fingers scrapped across his scalp and balled into a fist, yanking at his hair. Alex hissed in pain as Osprey used his handhold to drag the boy's head back until he could see his face.

'Look at you,' the man sneered, 'look at you, you're nothing, kid. You're just a smarmy little brat who doesn't know his place. I want you to remember this kid; I'm better than you. I'm bigger. I'm faster. I'm stronger. I belong here. You don't.'

With each point he made, he yanked Alex by the hair again, making the boy wince each time.

'Remember that and this might not have to happen again.'

With that, Osprey let go of the boy and stepped away. Alex collapsed forward on to his hands and knees. His arms shook beneath him, though he wasn't sure if it was from adrenaline, anger or pain.

Before he could drag himself back up onto his feet, Osprey kicked him one last time, knocking him down onto his side. Alex stayed curled up on the ground, waiting for the pain to fade as Osprey walk away without another word.

'That bastard that fucking fucking fucking bastard! I'm gonna kill him. Gonna kill him. Gonna kill him.' Alex muttered to himself once Osprey was out of earshot. He ached all over. The sharpest pain was in his ribs and scalp. He didn't think Osprey had broken any of his bones, but if he found patches of hair missing he wouldn't be surprised. Slowly, the pain dulled until Alex could stop swearing to distract himself from it all. His head, stomach, side and back still aching, he carefully dragged himself back onto his hands and knees.

He just couldn't believe that bastard. Sure, he hadn't expected to end up his best friend or anything, but what sort of person beats up a fifteen year old boy just because he doesn't like him being there? 

If Osprey tried anything like that again, Alex didn't know what he would do. He couldn't fight back. He'd wanted to just now, of course he'd wanted to. But even after taking the tablets, he'd still wanted to bite Osprey. He'd been so close, so vulnerable, even though he would never have guessed it. The taste of blood had already been in Alex's mouth from where his fangs had burst through his gums...

Osprey was sure to hurt him again, what if Alex had no medicine with him the next time? What if he bit him? It would be the death of Alex. And perhaps Osprey, though perhaps he'd deserve it.

So. What could he do? What about telling someone? His mind baulked at the idea. Alex had been taught by Ian to solve his problems by himself. But still, if it stopped Osprey... Alex considered his options. Another Unit member? But he didn't know any of them well enough to know how they would react. What if they didn't believe him? What if they were actually on Osprey's side? That would be disastrous. To go whining to one of Osprey's friends would make him look weak and childish. And they might beat him up too. Would Wolf do that? Would Wolf hurt him too? He had done in the past, when they first met at Brecon Beacons, though he hadn't actually beaten him up like Osprey had.

What would Eagle say? Nothing probably, he rarely did. What help would that be? Tiger? He would be on Osprey's side for sure. Anyway, even if one of them were on his side, it would just lead to the Unit becoming divided and dysfunctional. That wouldn't be good for any of them.

So who else? The Sergeant? He was the only one here who appeared to be in a position of power over Osprey. Hah. Not a chance. It was clear that he resented Alex's presence here almost as much as Osprey did. He wouldn't be any help. He would most likely pretend not to believe him or just order him to toughen up and deal with it himself.

Feeling angry, angry at the world and everything in it, Alex forced himself to stand up. His head swam and his vision blurred momentarily, making him feel as though he was going to throw up.

'God, that hurts,' Alex muttered, putting a hand to the back of his head. He could feel a raised bump that was likely to hang around for quite a while. Now that he'd straightened up, his back ached a lot as  
well. 

'That damn bastard.'

Since he knew that by not taking any more medication he would get better quicker, Alex decided to not take any more until all the pain and most likely, bruising, had completely gone away. Screw the consequences.

  


…~*AR-OBTS*~…

  


As Cub dragged himself to his feet and started to walk away, Tiger ducked ducked out of sight. Hiding behind one of the outer buildings, his eyes gleamed and he smiled smugly to himself. He had seen the entire thing. And the kid was right, Osprey really had been a bastard. Perfect. He couldn't stop himself from grinning as he gleefully ran the events of the last few minutes back through his mind. Osprey had done just as he has asked, roughing the boy up a bit, making him feel targeted, alone, vulnerable. Tiger admired that fighting spirit he had seen in Cub, answering back, not cowering away. That meant he wouldn't be too easy a conquest.  But he hadn't fought back aggressively either, which might make him easier to take advantage of in other situations.

He wondered why Cub had clutched at his mouth though; Osprey hadn't punched him there. Maybe he was putting it on? The thought disappointed Tiger. He didn't want to get involved with a liar or a drama queen. But wait, he had spat out blood, hadn't he? That meant his mouth must have been bleeding in some way or other. Most likely he had bitten his tongue hard when he'd been hit.

Tiger was tempted to go after Cub straight away .He was eager to give the impression that he cared. He wanted to ask the boy what had happened, to offer support and become a false ally for him against Osprey.

No, it was too soon. Cub would most likely reject his help, making future approaches harder. But he knew he would have to act fairly soon, before the kid gave in and asked to be sent home. He was only fifteen after all. He couldn't survive here for long.

Then again, he wasn't a normal fifteen year old, was he?

From what Tiger had seen of him over the last couple of days, he seemed much more solemn, independent and uncomplaining than any teenager other teenager would be in this sort of situation. SAS training was for the big boys, the special, the elite, but Cub seemed to be coping  well. Yet, he never acted cocky or full of himself. He tended to avoid the other soldier's banter and antics warily and hadn't fought back against Osprey just now. That kid was weird, a walking enigma. But really quite an intriguing one, in Tiger's eyes. He would enjoy getting the boy to admit all his petty little secrets one by one. By the time Tiger was bored of him, there wouldn't be a fact about him he didn't know. Which would be very helpful for future blackmail.

The SAS soldier had a feeling he was going to have a lot of fun with poor little Cub.

  
…~*AR-OBTS*~…

 

The water might have been lukewarm but Alex didn't care. A shower was a shower and he was just happy to be able to be getting clean again after training.

In order to escape from Osprey and to keep his scars hidden away from curious eyes and questions, Alex had disappeared off to grab a clean uniform from K-Units bunk and then ran off to have a shower the second they had been dismissed from the exercise. This had allowed him to get in first and nab one of the old singular showers at the back of the shower block. Most of the space was taken up by one big communal showering area, but around the back there were three broken down old individual showers, separated from each other by thin walls. The temperature of the water was even more temperamental back there, but Alex was happy to pay the price for privacy.

It was a complete coincidence that Alex shifted his gaze from the cracked roof tiles above his head and down to the ground just as someone scooped up his clothes from where he'd left them, just outside the cubicle door. He wouldn't have noticed this either, if it hadn't been for the corner of his towel poking through under the door. As they went to grab it, Alex saw the movement, and without thinking, leant down and snatched it  
under the gap. Alex stared at the large, scruffy blue towel in his hands for a second before the situation resolved itself into something that made sense.

He'd left his clothes piled neatly just outside the shower door, as there was no room inside. Someone had evidently noticed this and decided it would be a funny idea to steal them. Yeah. Real hilarious.

Jaw clenched in anger, Alex turned the shower off with a vicious action, not wanting the towel to get any wetter.

Quickly he wrapped it around himself and tucked under his arms to keep it in place and to cover up most of his scars.

The ones on his arms and shoulders he couldn't keep hidden though. Tiger had enquired earlier that day about the various scratches and scars on his arms.  Alex had put them down to an adventurous childhood. 

This was the first time his shoulders and the top of his back had been visible though. Alex hoped he would be able to retrieve his clothes before anyone got too much of a look at him. He didn't want anyone to see the  blotchy red burn scars from his final encounter with Desmond McCain,*** or the other scars now visible, such as the line on his left shoulder where a bullet had slipped him and the long gash on his back were the razor bladed boomerang of the real Feathered Serpents game had sliced into him.

As he rounded the corner into the main showering area he came face to face with Osprey. Alex's eyes narrowed. No prizes for guessing who had orchestrated the prank, though he knew Osprey wouldn't have been the one to do it himself.  It would have been one of his friends instead. Alex could see several of them were standing a little way behind their unofficial leader. Where as Osprey was fully dressed and obviously hadn't had a shower yet, many of the other soldiers were just starting the process of stripping off their dirty uniforms.

Alex felt immediately uncomfortable as one by one they all turned to look at him standing there, dripping wet in just a towel.

'What are you doing, Cub?' Osprey asked, arms folded, smirking down at him. His tone of voice and stance made it obvious that he knew exactly what he was doing and wasn't at all bothered that Alex knew it was his fault someone had stolen his clothes.

Anger flared up inside him, making Alex want to punch him right in his smug face. But he knew that that was exactly what Osprey wanted him to do, start a fight so that he could finish it.

Alex noticed that behind Osprey, one of the shower head were on with no nobody standing under it. With a sinking feeling, Alex took a step sideways so that he could see the floor below the shower. And just as expected, there were his missing clothes. Everything was clearly soaking wet.

With a resigned sigh that hid his bubbling anger, Alex made to go retrieve his clothes. As he did so, Osprey stepped in his way and pushed him back with a hand to the chest. Alex took a small step backwards away from the contact, giving Osprey a dirty look. Briefly their eyes locked, Alex's brown ones with their strange reddish brown flecks, to Osprey's hazel coloured ones.

For all his showing off, it was the SAS soldier who broke the eye contact first. His gaze flicked away from Alex, before settling on the towel the teenager was wearing.

'So. Think you're some kind of girl do you?'

Nonplussed at the unexpected question, Alex replied, 'No. Well, I wasn't last time I looked,' as he gestured to his flat chest. He wasn't sure why Osprey had just asked him that, but distrusted the smile on the other man's face.

'Then why,' he asked with the self satisfied smugness of a men revealing he had all four aces at the gambling table, 'are you wearing a towel round your chest?' Mocking laughs and lewd comments followed his question as others noticed what Osprey meant. 

Flicking damp hair out of his eyes with a quick movement of his head, Alex shrugged  and replied lightly, 'warmer this way.'

There. An answer for them. But not an honest one, nor one that Osprey's supporters or any of the other soldiers present would accept. Alex had to admit it hadn't been his best lie, but still, the taunts about how pathetic he were aggrevating.

Surreptitiously he glanced around, looking for any sort of ally. He spotted Wolf rolling his eyes and saying something to a soldier Alex didn't know. He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting any aid from that corner. Wolf might not hate him any more, but he clearly expect Alex to cope with little things like this by himself.

Not that it felt little to Alex right at that moment. He hated Osprey, he really did. He thought for a second about just turning around and walking away. But though he couldn't retaliate, he couldn't stand the thought of actively backing off and giving in to his bullying.

In the eyes of those around him, there was no reason for him not to expose his chest. He was male after all, despite some of the mocking speculation he could hear. They wanted him to conform to their norms. Well, he could never do that completely, he was too much of an anomaly here, but they would want him to act as close to normal as possible.

Though he hid it as best as he could, Alex was angry. So angry. It was an emotion that seemed to rise up in him all too quickly these days.

'Why you so keen to see me topless?' he asked Osprey flippantly. Wolf whistles, sounds of appreciations at his pluckiness and more jeers followed.

Even Osprey laughed, though mirthlessly.

'Hah. I'm not bent, you little git. Just want to know what you're so keen to hide. Really sure your not a girl?'

The anger that had been building up and up inside him lead to him finally snapping. Not that anyone else present realised, as he shrugged and untucked the towel from under his left armt. As his chest, stomach and back became exposed, he concentrated on tucking in the towel firmly at his waist so he didn't have to watch those around him as they noticed at first a couple of marks, and then went on to spot all the burns, old scratches, scars, and above all, the spidery white mark over his chest and the similar one under his left arm where the bullet had left his body.

As soldiers are not exactly known for their tact and subtly, several whistled at the sight or called out remarks such as, 'Your boyfriend must be fucking mental!', 'Yeah, Cub the masochist!', 'Were you dropped on your head as well?' and 'Got scars anywhere else we should know about?' 

Despite wanting to ignore everybody, Alex couldn't help his eyes flicking over to where Wolf was sitting, and then to where Tiger was standing.

Wolf looked shocked. That didn't surprise Alex; he was the only one who really had any idea about what sort of situations Alex tended to end up. He knew Wolf was seeing the toll of a dangerous life had had on him already. He was probably wondering how many other assignments like the Point Blanc Alex had ended up doing to get so many injuries. 

Though Tiger had heard the Point Blanc story from Wolf , he had no idea of the extent to which Alex had risked his life in the past or why he had done so. His face appeared strangely blank to Alex, who had no idea of the mental turmoil raging within Tiger's mind at that moment. 

He was in shock. How the hell had Cub ended up looking like that? Had he been in some sort of gang war? He didn't seem like the type, too intelligent and not aggressive enough...  And those burn marks. Had someone actively set fire to the kid? If not, what? What had happened to the kid for him to have...was that a bullet wound? Had Cub been shot in the chest? No...why on earth would Cub have been shot? It was impossible...right? Hadn't Wolf mentioned something about MI6? Could they have something to do with all this? Surely not, he was only fifteen, what would they want with a  fifteen year old?

He was more convinced then ever now that he would find out everything about Cub, especially why he had so many injuries... Rather than putting him off, seeing him like that made Tiger even more desperate then ever to posses Cub. Seeing all those scars made him want to trace his fingers across every imperfection, explore where else he might have scars... How fragile might Cub's mind be, considering that he must have been through a hell of a lot of shit to have ended up so scarred at such a young age? He seemed pretty sound of mind, but surely he couldn't be? Well he certainly wouldn't be once Tiger was done fucking with his mind. Not that he would stop there...

Wanting to escape from the staring, Alex headed towards the exit, wondering what to do next. Walk to the bunk, bare footed in his towel to get some dry clothes? That seemed like the only option.

Before he had chance to do so, a soldier who Alex vaguely recognised opened the door and entered. Alex racked his brains for a second, trying to remember his name. He was from the unit Alex had helped out by getting a flag for them on his first evening there...

Lion! That was his name, Lion.

He stopped in front of Alex and held something out to him, a dry pair of trousers, trainers and a top he recognised as his own. It wasn't the uniform he needed, but Alex felt grateful all the same. At least he would have something proper to wear while he made his way over to K-Unit's cabin on the other side of the camp.

When Alex went to thank Lion, he shrugged him off, saying that it was Eagle who had gone and the clothes out of his locker for him. When he had bumped into Lion just outside the building, he'd asked him to pass them along.

Alex was still thankful though. Lion could have hidden them, dumped them on the floor or put them under a shower as well, but instead he'd made sure Alex got them. And Eagle had gone to all the trouble of fetching them for him? It seemed as though there might just be a couple of people here he could trust, even if it appeared Eagle didn't want anyone to see him helping Cub.

 


	14. Closing in on the Prey

As expected, life didn't become any easier for Alex after the little showering incident. The other soldiers had become even more confused and curious about him, something Osprey didn't seem to approve of. He vented his annoyance by lashing out at Alex whenever he could, be it roughly bumping into him as he passed, snatching things out of his hands or, like on one occasion, punching him in the face when he reached the top of the climbing wall on the assault course. Assault course indeed.

He'd seen it coming (though no one else saw what happened) and avoided the worst of the blow. Instead of being sent crashing to the ground below with a broken nose, the blow caught him on his jaw, resulting in a bruise that he explained away as a result of his own clumsiness. To the others, it seemed like all of a sudden he had become very clumsy, when in fact the opposite was true. Despite all the tablets he was taking, he was still more light footed, flexible and had much faster reaction time than he had as a human, though the difference wasn't big enough for anyone but Alex to really notice it. Hopefully.

Whereas Osprey had become more vicious towards him, Wolf had suddenly grown almost concerned for him, something Alex found very hard to comprehend. Was this really the same guy who had forced him to have an unpleasant encounter with a stun grenade back at Brecon Beacons who had now tried delicately to talk to Alex about his old injuries? Of course Alex had just fobbed him off, being purposefully vague and changing the subject as quickly as possible. He didn't want to discuss his past missions with anyone, even Wolf, who already knew a small part of the tale and would probably be able to understand what he had gone through more than most other people.

Of course, there was one person who understood exactly what he was going through currently with Osprey.

 Tiger.

Three days after the shower incident, while Alex was sitting alone on his bunk, trying to work out the best place to put his new I-pod so that the sun shining through the window above him would catch its solar panels full on, Tiger appeared in the door of the cabin.

Legs crossed underneath him, concentrating on angling the panels just right, Alex paid little attention to him until he walked over to Alex's bunk, and asked if he could sit down.

Surprised and wary of the threat of approaching questions he didn't want to answer, Alex nodded tightly without speaking and snatched the I-pod back off the bed before Tiger could manage to sit on it.

'Cub,' he started with great gravity. Alex resisted rolling his eyes, sure he was about to get a lecture on personal safety or questions about his scars. Instead he fixed Alex with a piercing look with his bright blue eyes and asked, 'Has Osprey been, ah, hurting you?'

 _Oh._  

What had Tiger seen?

Before Alex could answer (not that he had any idea of what to say), Tiger spoke again with a sigh.

'Look, Cub, there's no point trying to tell me that nothings going on. I know he's been picking on you, I've seen how he acts towards you.'

Feeling uncomfortable, Alex opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Tiger ploughed on, a look of reassuring sympathy on his face.

'I know what it's like to have someone who acts like a right bastard to you even though you never did anything to them. It's not, uh, exactly fun.' At that he glanced away from Alex, as though lost in memory. He shook his head with a rueful smile that faded back to seriousness as he spoke again. 'I know you don't want to go making a big fuss about it, but you can tell me anything. Anything, you hear me?'

Though the soldier obviously meant well, Alex really just wanted to get away from him now. He didn't like the way Tiger was leaning in towards him, invading Alex's personal space with that fervent, compelling look in his eyes. I was as though he thought he could get Alex to pour out his whole life story just using the power of his gaze.

So Alex just nodded vaguely and said 'Right.'

'Do you want me to talk to Osprey about it?'

'No!' Alex blurted out immediately, sitting up straight.

'Sorry, you're right, that's a stupid idea.' He placed a reassuring hand on the teenager's shoulder. 'Someone like him wouldn't be bothered would they? I bet he wouldn't leave you alone, even if anyone else knew...does anybody else know?'

Alex shook his head, using the movement as an excuse to lean back so that Tiger was forced to let go of him. 

'No, I didn't tell anyone. I mean, it's nothing serious. Everyone has the right to get on, or not, with whoever they like.'

Even Alex wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this, but he wanted to assure Tiger that things weren't as bad as he thought.  'I mean, It doesn't matter really. I don't know what Osprey's problem is, but it's not my problem - it's his.' Even to his own ears his argument sounded weak.

'Of course, of course not,' Tiger replied soothingly, as though trying to calm a skittish horse. Instead it annoyed Alex. He wasn't a five year old for god's sake! But Tiger was just trying to help, and it was almost reassuring to know that there was someone looking out for him, even if he wasn't one to go running to others about his problems.

He mustn't let Tiger get too close though. Having no friends here was a good thing, it meant having less people who thought it was their right to pry into subjects he didn't want to discuss. Or ones he couldn't. He mustn't let any one discover what he was. He didn't want to die.

All the same, as Tiger left him with a final smile and friendly pat on the back, Alex couldn't help feeling glad that he was still able to make new friends, or at least allies, now that he...had changed. He had feared he might have lost his heart by now, or at least his sanity. He felt a little more human now.

It was unfortunate that reassurance wouldn't last long. Only a day in fact. Tiger was an impatient sort of person. And Alex, almost as vulnerable as he was deadly...

  
  



	15. Hunter's Kiss

The evening's weather was beautiful, just a little too warm but with a light breeze that stopped Alex feeling too hot as he lay on his back, watching fluffy white clouds slide along in the big blue sky.  He lay peacefully in the long grass with his hands behind his head, listening to music on his I-pod.

The other members of his unit were at some sort of weapons tutorial that he'd been barred from. To start with Alex had felt annoyed at the way he'd been singled out once again.  There was no need to remind them once again that he didn't belong here.

But then it had occurred to Alex; since he hadn't received any orders on what to do instead, he could do as he pleased. So, ignoring Osprey's insults about being too pathetic to be even allowed to so much as touch a rifle, he'd headed back to their cabin. Not wanting to be stuck in there on one of the few warm days England actually had, he'd snatched up his I-pod, set it to shuffle and gone for a wander through the woods that surrounded the camp. After about half an hour he ended up looping back to a spot he had come across several days ago. Since then he'd returned to it whenever he got the chance and wanted to be alone, which wasn't often on the first account, but near consistently on the second.

It was a small clearing filled with long grass and the odd thistle. On three sides it was surrounded by trees, but on the fourth it overlooked a sheer cliff. Below it was the large lake that the assault course zip-wire crossed.

Alex had had little time to himself since the... incident, so being on his own for once was a relief. No more having to pretend to be something he wasn't, or tip-toeing around others in case something happened that lead to his true nature being revealed. Ah. That reminded him - how long since he had last taken a tablet? A while. Though he wasn't yet feeling the urge to go chasing off after little fluffy bunny rabbits to devour, he decided to take a couple now anyway, as the preliminary wave of weakness they tended to give him would have passed fully before it was time to do another drill or exercise.

After another ten minutes Alex sighed, knowing he had best start heading back soon. It wasn't that it was getting too dark or too cool yet; British summer evenings were long and light. However, he was pretty sure the weapon tutorial was scheduled to last two hours, and it would be a really bad idea for him to be missing if the Sergeant called for them all to go on another evening exercise.

Alex was reluctant to move just yet though, he still had time, and who knew when he would next get chance to relax again?

He was enjoying life more now more than he had done for weeks. Sure, he had many things to worry about, and his back and shoulders ached almost contently these days, but that wasn't a surprise. He'd been strapped down on his back  on a solid metal table the entire time he'd been undergoing his... changes. Plus, there were the heavy backpacks he was forced to carry on so many of their exercises.

So he just ignored those things, and tried to look on the positive side. Like that despite all he had been through, he could still enjoy the sun without, say, burning to a crisp or crumbling into a pile of ash. Back when he'd been confined and had tests ran on him, they had used various UV rays and high power lamps on patches of his skin.  They'd come to the conclusion that, unlike in mythology, sunlight had no negative effects on him at all. In fact, since coming to the Lake District, he had managed to get a bit of a tan.

A shadow fell across Alex. A feeling of shock shot through the teenage spy. For a second his mind jumped to the worst conclusions. But, no, the monster who had hurt him couldn't possibly know where to find him. And if it was Scorpia or any of his other enemies, surely he would be dead already?

Trying not to show his fear, he calmly sat up and looked around, his I-pod slipping off his chest and one of the ear-buds falling out of place.

Seeing Tiger standing over him, smiling lightly,  all the fear and tension drained away. It was replaced by mild irritation. Alex had hoped to have this time to himself, and had thought that he was unlikely to be found here.

As Tiger sat down next to Alex, as though without a care in the world, Alex said, 'I thought the weapons tutorial was going to last longer than that.'

'So did we,' he replied. 'Our tutor had to go answer some important call from the MoD or something though, and the Sergeant's in town, so it looks as though we've got ourselves a bit of free time.' His words were happy and honest sounding, but Alex felt uncomfortable under his stare. What was it with Tiger and the way he always looked at him so strangely? It made him feel paranoid, sure that Tiger had somehow discovered his secret and was now trying to scare him into admitting it. It was a predatory, hungry look that made it hard for Alex to work out what the older man might be thinking.

'How did you find me?' he asked next. 

Tiger laughed. 'I've seen you disappear off in this direction before, and since I didn't have anything better to do, I decided to follow you to this...hmm, would you call it a cliff top? To see if I could spot you. Was pretty surprised to find you though. Lucky coincidence, ay?' Before Alex got a chance to reply, Tiger leaned over, closing the gap between them, and picked up the I-pod that had fallen by Alex's hand. His fingers brushed Alex's as he did so, making him pull it away from the older man without thinking. As Tiger lifted the I-pod up, the other earpiece was jerked away from Alex.

'Sorry' Tiger muttered, handing it back to him and putting the other one in his own ear. Alex put his back in too, taking the chance to shift a little away from Tiger, who seemed to have no concept of personal space. He wasn't able to get very far away, due to the how short the ear phones were.

Tiger listened silently, long enough to hear a few lines of the song.

' __Yo, we gonna go ghost town,  
this motown,  
with yo sound  
you're in the place  
you gonna bite the dust  
can't fight with us  
with yo sound  
you kill the INC.'*

Then he laughed. 'Wait! I recognise this. It's that weird feel good song from a few years back, right?'

'Yeah,' Alex replied, pulling the bud from his ear and motioning for Tiger to pass him back the I-pod.

Tiger stopped listening reluctantly and wrapped the length of the earphones around the I-pod as he said, 'You know, I haven't heard that song for ages. No one seems to play it any more. Except you.'

Alex shrugged and held out his hand for the I-pod. 'I haven't sorted through my music for ages. There's loads of crap on there I never listen to, but I had it of shuffle.' 

Tiger didn't hand back Alex's I-pod, but seemed to weigh it in his hand, looking at the back as he did so. 'Strange design, this,' he commented. Alex shrugged again as he quickly thought of a lie.

'Yeah, a guy I know is great with tech stuff. It's one he was messing around with and gave to me when he couldn't get those solar panels to work as well as he would like.' Lies were always best when they had an echo of truth within them. However, in order to avoid any further questions on the matter, Alex rolled his eyes and said, 'Come on Tiger, give it back before you drop it or something.'

'Drop it, ay?' he replied, a cheeky smirk appearing on his face. Immediately he held it above Alex's head and made motions as though he was going to drop it. Instinctively, Alex made a grab for it, but Tiger stood up, holding it out of his reach and chuckled. 'You're gonna have to grow a bit, Cub, before you can take me on!'

'I'm not trying to take you on, I'm trying to get my I-pod back. Obviously. What's an SAS soldier doing, acting like a kid?' he replied, standing up as well, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

'Oh, I'm the kid, am I?' There was amusement in Tiger's voice, but not cruelty. It was like he was teasing a younger brother. 'Look at you, how old are you, twelve?'

'Fifteen,' Alex replied with a growl as he jumped up and managed to grab his possession back off of  Tiger.

Tiger made a grab for it and managed to get hold of Alex's arm. The older man held him like that for a couple of seconds and when it became obvious that Tiger wasn't about to let him go without a fight, Alex decided do something about it. He relaxed his hand, though not enough to drop his I-pod and yanked his arm backwards, so that it skimmed past his own head. It was a simple self defence technique Ian had taught him when he was younger, but an effective one as it took advantage of the point at which Tiger's grip was weakest. He hadn't been holding on very tight anyway, allowing Alex to escape with little effort.

Once again, Tiger laughed. 'Okay, Okay, you win.'

Alex wanted to come back with a witty remark, but found himself overwhelmed by a strange feeling he couldn't name. It was one he had felt a couple of times before when he had been hurt during combat training. But he wasn't hurt now; he wasn't being threatened, so why was he feeling so uneasy and alert? There was a sudden jab of  pain in his mouth, something that caused a wave of panic to roll through him.

He had been really quite close to Tiger for a second or two, making contact with him in fact. It would appear it had been just enough for that other side of him to begin to instinctively awaken in his defence. No, there was more to it than just that. In order to defend him, yes, but his vampiric side had awoken due to a certain craving too...

Tiger was so unaware of the danger, and so vulnerable here by himself, alone with Alex.

He quickly turned away from the SAS soldier. As he put his I-pod away in his backpack, Alex quickly popped a couple of tablets out of their casing and downed them both with a swig of unpleasantly sun warmed water.

'You Okay, Cub?' Tiger asked in a concerned voice from his right. Alex nodded, eyes closed until he was able to compose himself enough to explain the pained look on his face. 

'Yeah. Just mistimed swallowing a tablet, you know?'

'Yeah, I hate doing that,' Tiger replied. 'Why do you need to take them anyway? You always seem to be taking some sort of drugs.'

Not wanting to bother with a proper lie, Alex forced a laugh and told him, 'Ah, I'm just a drug addict you see.' It amused him to use the same thing many of his classmates did to explain all his absences from school.

'Really now?' Tiger leaned down and stole his I-pod back out of the bag. 'Guess that means you must have mugged some poor bloke and stolen this to pay for drugs then?' 

Seriously, what did that guy think he was playing at?

'Urgh. Not again. Grow up, Tiger!'

Tiger jumped up and took several steps back, holding the gadget out mockingly. With a sigh Alex decided to humour him, at least a little. He stood up reluctantly, clearly showing the soldier that he thought he was being immature and hardly worth his time. Tiger's playful attitude was almost as infectious as it was annoying though, and Alex began to relax a little as he stalked Tiger, who was walking backwards away from him, around the clearing.

He allowed Alex to get close enough to make a swipe at the I-Pod, but though he was fast, Tiger managed to pull it out of his reach.

'Oh come on Tiger, you're in the SAS, not primary school you know.'

'Don't dis primary school, best years of my life!'

Alex laughed and made another lunge for the item, but this time got nowhere near it. Tiger managed to grab his arm but let go straight away. Alex tried again, his aim even further off the mark, and the older man grinned as he managed to catch Alex once again.

'What's wrong, Cub? Giving up? If you do, I get to keep this.'

'N—nothing. And you are not keeping that!' But as much as he was trying to hide it, there was something wrong. He was feeling the usual lapse in energy and strength that he often did just after taking tablets, but this was worse than usual.

Trying to pretend he was fine, Alex made several more attempts to get back his I-Pod, each more lacklustre than the last. Tiger didn't seem to notice, he was having too much fun crowing over his success at how easily he could catch Alex's arm in his free hand.

Annoyed at how bad he was feeling, and how much of a fool he felt at being beaten so easily, Alex made one last grab for the I-Pod. Tiger caught his hand with such enthusiasm that he jerked Alex off his feet for a second, before he let go. Unbalanced, Alex's legs gave out from under him and he fell back on to the grass. Despite himself, he laughed at how ridiculous the situation was. Alex Rider, teenage spy and vampire, had managed to fall on his arse. Not something he would have exactly called an impressive achievement.

It scared him though how weak he was feeling right now. The explanation occurred to him. Oh. He had been warned not to take, what was it? More then three or four tablets in an hour? And how many had he taken in less than half an hour? Four. No wonder he felt as weak and pathetic as a new born lamb. He really needed to get Tiger to go away so he could spend a little more time alone, and hopefully recover from the side effects of his medication. But what if there were more serious side effects that just this? Could an overdose kill him? He hoped not. 

 Trying to ignore such ominous thoughts, Alex made to stand up but stopped in surprise when Tiger crouched down over him on all fours, his face near Alex's and all of his prior playfulness replaced by something... different. Something dangerous.

More than a little confused at this sudden turn of events, the only noise the teenager managed to make was, 'Uh...' before he shuffled back on his elbows, away from the soldier. Tiger didn't let him back away and stand up though, he moved forward on his hands and knees, acting almost like a big cat stalking its prey. 'Uhhh, Tiger?' Alex said nervously. He was starting to get more than a little freaked out by how close the other man was to him, and by the predatory look in his eyes.

Just knowing that he wanted to get as much distance between the two of them as he could, Alex kept on backing away until he banged his head into the trunk of a large tree on the edge of the clearing. The shade of the tree seemed to eclipse all warmth and light from the sunny evening.

He couldn't keep on going backwards now. He would either have to figure out what sort of game Tiger thought he was playing, or escape out in one of the directions left to him. But how? Tiger was so close now, Alex could have bitten him. The thought shot through him like lightning, making him shudder involuntary. Alex could swear he could hear his own heart thumping against his ribs and his blood pulsing through his veins. But he was equally sure he could hear Tiger's as well. Or maybe he just thought that because he could hear Tiger's slightly heavier than normal breathing so clearly.

Feeling this whole freaky situation was getting out of hand now, Alex laughed nervously and said, 'Seriously Tiger, you're really creeping me out now.' 

Once again, he didn't reply, but instead smiled a self-satisfied grin, and all the while his eyes bore into Alex's, the pupils so dilated that his eyes appeared almost black rather than their natural bright blue.

  
  


_ ' _ ___ Here's the sad story, about a deer, and a man!  
A romantic scene, from a lullaby,  
In the clearing green, where his eyes met mine.'** _

  
  


**…** ** ~*AR-OBTS*~… **

Tiger couldn't help it. Couldn't help making his move. It was too late to stop and pretend nothing had happened. He didn't want to stop anyway. He wanted the boy. Wanted that, handsome, innocent young man. He couldn't take his eyes off of Cub's. They were so unusual in their colouring, more so now than he had ever noticed before. And they were so wide and full of fear and confusion. Where were his smart remarks and fighting spirit now? Could it be that, maybe, just maybe, Cub wasn't quite as a afraid as he made out? His eyes seemed to be darting around looking for an escape route, but he wasn't attacking Tiger. He wasn't fighting back. Could that mean that maybe he didn't want to fight him off? Maybe his breathing wasn't faster than normal due to fear, maybe it was due to anticipation... Perhaps he would really welcome the attention... That would certainly make things easier for Tiger, but really, a lot less fun. He preferred a struggle, preferred it to be more of a victory, a struggle, a conquest of another. Now that was what really got his pulse racing...

' __ I have never, felt like this before.  
Felt my body sinking, to the grassy floor.  
No I have never, known a love like this,  
Felt the flaming arrows, of the hunter's kiss.'

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Dammit dammit dammit! Why did he have to be feeling so weak now, of all times? Why had he taken those two extra pills? Why? Really he knew why, though. It was to stop himself from biting Tiger, not that the bastard deserved such consideration.

Alex was still trying to convince himself that Tiger was just messing with him, but he knew that there was really no way of getting around the fact that the soldier was invading his personal space far too much, had him effectively pinned against a tree and was staring at him with the most lustful, lecherous look Alex had ever seen in his life.

The older man certainly did not have Alex's best interests at heart at the moment.

He was trying to make sense of the situation, but it just seemed so strange and unbelievable even to someone who had been through as much as Alex had. He was struggling to make sense of what was going on, and what to do about it.

Could it be that Alex was just misreading the situation? Maybe...maybe that was a look of blood lust in his eyes. Maybe he knew that Alex wasn't human, and wasn't human himself! That would certainly explain the way he had been acting towards him since they first met. Maybe he knew the creature who had bitten Alex in the first place and was here to finish him off!

Still in shock, but his mind racing, Alex tried to speak, tried to demand an explanation, and to order Tiger to let him go or else... Or else what? He was in no state to fight back.

He never got a chance to speak though. Before he could say a word, Tiger grabbed hold of the top half of both his arms. With a grip like iron, he pressed Alex back against the tree, twisting his arms further back around the trunk. Tiger shifted his weight forward so the majority of his bulk was keeping Alex pinned against the tree and drew his heavy booted feet over Alex's knees to immobilise him further. The teenager panicked, trying his best to get away, but the side effects of his medication still had a hold on him, making his attempts weak and futile.

They were also the distracted response that Tiger had hoped for. Alex froze in shock at Tiger roughly pressed his lips against Alex's own.

Alex wanted to shout and swear, push Tiger away and punch him, make the soldier sorry for ever doing... this. _ _

_ Oh... fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This cannot be happening!  _

His mind could barely process the unexpected and disturbing turn of events. It couldn't be real. Another man couldn't be enthusiastically crushing their lips against his. It was just insane.

Alex wasn't the kind of guy  who would ever pick on someone because of their sexuality. However, another man holding him against his will and biting at his bottom lip, was not something Alex was remotely in favour of.

Wide-eyed and horrofied, Alex managed to break off the contact and twisted away as best as he could from the soldier. Glaring at Tiger from the corner of his eye, he found himself making eye contact with his attacker. For a moment or two, they stayed fixed like that, staring at each other, their breathing ragged and hearts pounding, but for very different reasons.

Then Alex spat to the side, hating the idea of Tiger's saliva in his mouth. The thought of it was enough to make him want to retch.

'What. The. Fuck. What the fuck do you think you are playing at? Get off me! I don't want you anywhere near me, you fucking bastard!' He wasn't the type to swear all that often, his  disgust was enough to make him want to spit out every curse word he knew in the English language, plus all the ones he knew.

The soldier didn't flinch away at all, or make any attempt to let him go of him. The way he saw it, it was just a bluff really, just the boy's shock showing through. He wanted this really. Oh yes, they always did. Tiger knew how to show them a good time, even if they didn't realise a good time was what they were looking for. Besides, he knew Cub was a pretty strong kid, but his attempts to escape were feeble at best. He must want it, if he wasn't struggling all that much.

Tiger wished he would though. Wished that the boy would use all his strength to try and push him away, to punch him, to bite him, to pull at his hair... Then when he was too exhausted to continue, it'd be Tiger's turn.

'Fucking bastard?' He repeated after a long pause. There was a strange, deranged look in his eyes, and a creepy smile spreading lazily across his face. 'If you want me to be...' He dug his nails viciously into Alex's arms and pulled him away from the tree trunk momentarily, before slamming him back into the hard bark.

Alex gasped as pain shot through his back and head, but a second later, Tiger had his lips pressed against his again, using the whole of his upper body to hold the younger man still.

The teenager's mind was racing as he tried to think of any bit of self defence he'd learnt over the years that would allow him to escape from this situation, as weak as he was. But the techniques that kept occurring to him were simply no use. Jab him in the wind pipe? That didn't need a lot of strength, just couple of fingers and a good aim... No, he wasn't able to get his arms free. Use that foot, knee and hip twisting technique he had once been taught, in order to use Tiger's own bulk against him and throw him off? But his legs were trapped too, and he needed more strength than that. Go for the eyes? No, he needed his arms free for that as well. Upper-cut to the stomach? Same problem. Not even the final fail safe attack of a good kick, punch, or elbow to the groin was any good to him here.

It was terrifying. All those years of training, but just a couple of tablets too many had rendered all that he knew useless.

A shudder went through him as Tiger let go of his right arm and put a hand on his waist. He made as to try and pull at Alex's trousers, but got distracted by the taut, overly smooth skin of an old burn mark on his. Remembering those unexpected scars on Cub's torso, Tiger ran his hand up under his T-shirt, trying to trace the scars with his finger tips. He couldn't find many though, as a lot were too small to have left any raised skin, and his movements were too rough.

However, he did manage to find the bullet wound, and his lips pulled into a smile against the boy's mouth as he thought about what he could do to pursued Cub to reveal to him how he had got it.

  _I will have your body, Cub, and I'll have your dark secrets, kid, just you wait and see_ , he thought triumphantly. 

 He had to stop his exploration so he could pull the Alex's free hand away from his throat and back, immobilised, against the tree.

And it was then that something happened that almost made Alex lose it all together. A sharp, stabbing pain began to build up in his gums.

_ No, no, no, no, no! Fuck. No! This is impossible. This isn't allowed to happen, no! _

The very medicine that had stolen all this strength, was supposed to keep that side of him at bay. The horrible, twisting note of tension in his stomach grew worse and worse. His mind went into even more of a panic as dark, slinking thoughts that weren't his own, began to sneak in.

Hoping that this would at least signal the return of his usual strength, Alex doubled his attempts to escape from Tiger. But though he didn't feel as weak as before, he was by no means up to full strength. It appeared that perhaps his medicine wasn't quite as up to the task as he had been lead to believe... what a time to finally find that out.

His head and back still ached from being bashed into the tree, his arms were hurting beneath Tiger's grip and his mouth felt as though blades were slowly ripping through it. Which, in a sense, they were.

If he had been afraid before, that fear had doubled. Not only was he at the mercy of a sexual predator, but there was no doubt at all in his mind, that his secret was about to be revealed. With a human being so close...so close enough to kiss him, and with his medication having failed him at a critical moment, Alex didn't know what to do.

He had to get out of there. Somehow. Anyhow. It didn't matter, he just had to get away before the urge became too strong and he sunk his teeth into Tiger.

Alex had time to say, 'Just. Fuck off! Get off, now!' or, 'Stop it. Tiger, please!' before Tiger was biting at him again, roughly crushing his face to the teenager's. It was as though Tiger couldn't hear him, as though he had no idea what he was doing was wrong.

But he had to, had to know that Alex wasn't willing to do this with him, had to hear the threats and requests that he stop. Alex wasn't one to beg, but right at that moment, he would have done if he had thought Tiger would have released him.

It was clear now that there were three things that were likely to happen before this ordeal was over. The first was that it appeared Alex would most likely bite Tiger, in which case, he might as well forfeit his life right then...unless he killed Tiger. That would get rid of a couple of problems, but create a hell of a lot more.

The second thing that seemed sickeningly likely was rape. The amount of cruelty, lust, and indifference to Alex's distress that the older man was showing, combined with the mounting sexual aggression in him, made rape seem inevitable if the teenager was unable to stop him.

The third was both combined;  both of them giving into their lust and both suffering because the other couldn't control themselves.

Alex was rather keen to avoid all the above, but unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Starting to get a little tired now, but keen to get all the way before Cub escaped him, or worse, they were discovered, Tiger started to try and undo the fastening on the boy's trousers. But he was distracted from that pursuit when he felt the boy's clenched jaw, loosen. Eagerly he ran his tongue between Cub's teeth, before pulling back with a startled yelp as pain shot through his invading tongue. Shit! Cub had bitten him! Sure, he liked it rough but, fuck, that really hurt! He could actually taste blood in his mouth.

He glared down at Cub, let go of the trouser zip he had just managed to undo, and grabbed him by the arms again. He meant to hurt Alex, to cause him pain in return for his bitten and bloody tongue. But he didn't. He couldn't. All he could do was stare in surprise at Cub's eyes.  _ What the Fuck...?  _ His eyes! What the fuck was up with the kid's eyes? They weren't like that before. It wasn't natural. Wasn't right. No one's eyes could go black with red flecks like that, it was freakish. Was this why he had to take all that stupid medication, for some creepy eye disease?

And what was with that weird look Cub was giving him? What was the kid's problem? Tiger saw his lips pull back into a smile. No, not a smile, a snarl. And he saw, clearly in the evening light, that Cub's teeth were...strange. Very strange.

Cub had a fistful of Tiger's T-shirt grasped tightly in his fist. The grip got even tighter, and without a word, Cub pulled himself up against Tiger, as though trying to give him a friendly hug. But there was nothing friendly about the stab of pain he suddenly felt at the side of his neck. Before he had time to react, more pain blossomed, worse than the first time. The man yelped, confused and almost afraid now. He tried to push the teenager away from him, but couldn't manage to.

A second later, he felt no need to. What had been the problem? He had been in pain just now, hadn't he? Really bad pain. But it was gone now. How he just felt strangely light headed. Something weird was happening, something that shouldn't be. But what ever it was, it didn't actually hurt any more. In fact, it kind of felt good...

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Alex hadn't been able to help it, had felt his jaw relax of its own accord, had felt his teeth sharpen and fangs finally slide through his gums. He'd tried to fight it, and had felt revolted when Tiger's tongue had touched his own. But he hadn't been able to resist that little bite, that one tiny little nip. And by then it was far, far too late. That desperate longing, that over-powering yearning for something that should have so disgusted him, raced through him, soaking every fibre of his being with all consuming desire for blood.

He had stared for a moment into Tiger's horrified eyes, relishing his chance for revenge, and then, unable to hold back any longer, Alex had bitten him.

Instinctively he knew what to do. First, one small bite to get the blood flowing. He could feel toxins in this fangs just waiting to be injected, toxins that would immobilise Tiger's vocal cords, and, if he injected enough into him, paralyse him altogether. However, if he didn't then kill his victim, he knew that Tiger would become a Vampire too. That cold and calculated predator's voice in his mind was telling him what a bad idea it would be to create more competition for himself when there was only a limited blood supply nearby.

So, resisting the urge to inject venom into his victim, he quickly released his grip, and then bit again, deeper now, to anchor his teeth in place and prevent his victim from escaping .

The blood felt hot, and unpleasantly stringy*** as it first made its way down his throat. But then the unique components of vampire saliva that stopped blood from clotting kicked in and it didn't feel wrong at all.  Alex could feel the strength that had so recently abandoned him, rushing back, and more besides. He knew that the more blood he consumed, the more his strength grew and the better his senses and reflexes would become.

Unlike when Alex had himself been bitten, Tiger didn't seem to be terrified and in pain and desperate to escape. In fact, judging by the moans, he appeared to be quite enjoying it.

It was a sound that Alex found rather disturbing, and one that managed to bring him back to himself. Uh. No. No way was he going to be involved in anything that made Tiger sound like  _ that. _  Using all the willpower he had, Alex unclenched his jaw and wrenched himself away from the older man. Blood spattered out in an ark as he pulled away.  Alex ended up on his back in the grass, panting with his mouth covered in blood.

He felt...he felt strange. Alive. More alive than he had ever been in his life. The blood sung through his veins and everything in the world felt and sounded and looked and smelt and tasted so much stronger, better, clearer than it had ever done before. It was as though he had been living in a bubble all his life and it had finally popped. He never wanted the feeling to stop. He wanted more blood.

The thought jolted him straight back into a sitting position and he found himself looking at Tiger. He was were Alex left him, knelt under the tree, blood covering his neck and a strange look on his face. His eyes looked completely glazed over, like Alex had sucked his soul out, not his blood. But there was a look of bliss there too, as though he was thinking back to the best moments of his life.

Alex's eyes fixed back on Tiger's neck and he clenched his fists together. He wanted to finish the job he had started. He had never wanted, no, needed, something so much in his life. But he dragged his eyes away from the sight of  the blood and wrestled himself into standing up and turning away from the soldier. Alex's heart was beating madly in his chest and everywhere he looked seemed so much more in focus than it ever had before.

But he couldn't take any pleasure in his enhanced senses. The weight of what he had done came crashing over his head like a vengeful tsunami.

He had bitten someone. Given in and drank someone's blood. They would kill him now for sure. There was no way MI6 would allow him to live now that he had let  _ that  _ side of himself out. If Tiger told anyone, he was doomed.

Reluctantly he turned to face the soldier again, who didn't appear to have moved an inch since he last looked. Their eyes locked and Tiger appeared to try and say something, but all he managed was a wordless sound, devoid of meaning.

The urge to bite him again shot up through the teenager's spine. No, no, no, no. He mustn't. Couldn't. But if he killed him, there would be no one to give away his secret...

He bit back the slinking thought, actually accidentally biting the inside of his mouth with his sharpened teeth. He swallowed and tasted blood. His and Tiger's as well.

There was only one thing he could think to do to prevent himself from murdering the man behind them. They might have failed him once, but still Alex ran to his backpack and, with trembling hands, managed to extricate a couple of tablets from their packaging. Quickly he shoved both into his mouth and, taking a swig of water, swallowed them down.

They were fast acting tablets, but every second that passed seemed almost a year as he sat hunched up next to his bag, praying that they would take effect.

Then Alex heard a sound behind him and turned round to see Tiger stagger to his feet. For a couple of seconds he looked drunk, then he managed to regain his balance and began to head in Alex's direction. The teenager watched him warily and also rose to his feet, backing away a few steps. No way did he want Tiger any where near him. He needed more time to get over all this. He also had a feeling that Tiger might just want to kill him now.

The other man stopped a couple of metres away from him, and asked in a confused, hoarse voice, 'What...what are you?'

'I...' what could he say? He couldn't just come out and say 'I'm a vampire', but it was far too late for him to just be able to shrug Tiger off completely. Instead he found himself stammering an apology, his words tripping over each other as his internal battle continued to rage. 'I'm so. So so sorry. I ** — ** I didn't mean it. Please. It ** — ** . It was an accident. I didn't mean to. Oh God. I just couldn't help it.'

But then he begun to feel angry.

'I told you to stop! I told you to leave me alone, to get away from me. But you wouldn't. You wouldn't stop. You wouldn't fucking stop and I told you to, but you didn't!'

'Cub,' Tiger said, and Alex ceased his tirade. 'Cub. Please.' He took a step closer to Alex, and said in a voice thick with emotion, 'Cub. Please. I don't know what the fuck that was..just ** — **  just do that again.'

'What?' Alex replied, confused. Where was the fear, the horror, the hatred, that he had expected?

Tiger took another step closer to him. 'Please, Cub. That ** — **  I ** — **  I've never felt like that before. You've got to do it again.'

Once again, he stepped closer to Alex. There was still a bit of a glazed look in his eyes, as if he was under some sort of spell. But there was lust there too.

The teenager began to back away from him, away from the trees and into the clearing.

'No! No. Don't go, Cub. Come here. Come on. I'm not going to hurt you. Just do- ** — ** do what ever you did again...' His eyes began to focus a little better on Alex and he appeared to notice the blood around his mouth for the first time.

'You bit me? Is that- ** — ** was that what happened? I don't remember. I just ** — ** Please Cub. I need you. I need you so much.'

'No, no, you don't,' Alex replied, still backing away. The drugs seemed to be taking effect. His teeth were still far sharper than they should have been, his canines especially, but he felt weaker now, and the bloodlust seemed manageable at last.

Then Tiger began to get aggressive. 'Don't make me hurt you, Cub. I could hurt you in ways you've never imagined. I could cause you so much pain... But I don't want to. I want to keep you safe and happy. If I have to hurt you do so, I will, Cub.'

'That doesn't even make sense!' was all Alex managed to say in reply.

That made Tiger shout at him, 'I don't care. Just get the fuck here now, Cub. Get here now.'

He shook his head, and raised up his hands in front of him, in a calming motion. Tiger was getting awfully close to him and he found himself running out of room. For he had backed away to the cliff edge of the clearing, the one that overlooked the lake.

'Stop it. Just stop it Tiger. This is insane! Just leave me alone.'

'No!' The older man snarled. 'You will be mine, whether you like it or not! You will be mine!'

Alex managed to spit, 'Paedophile! I'm fifteen for Gods sake, Tiger!' before the other man lunged at him.

The teenage spy took the only exit left to him, and with as much strength as he could manage, threw himself backwards off the cliff edge.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Feel Good INC. by Gorillaz. Planned on using this song in that piece all along, virtual cookies to those who know why! XD  
> ** Hunter's Kiss by Rasputina  
> *** Yep, apparently if you drink blood too slowly, it feel all nasty and stringy as it goes down your throat. Lovely!


	16. Knowledge is Power

The fall lasted only a few, horrible seconds before Alex hit the surface of the lake. His momentum and clothes dragged him down into the water and the shock of the sudden cold numbed all thought for a moment. Then panic and instinct kicked in and Alex fought his way back up. He burst out of the water and he took a huge gasp of air, shaking his head to get rid of the hair in his face. He glanced back up at the spot he'd jumped from, then turned and started to head for the nearest shore.

Before he'd managed to swim more than a couple of strokes, something small splashed into the water near him.  _ Damn! Is Tiger throwing rocks or something? _  Alex wondered. He looked around in time to see the soldier, far above him, hurl something else off the edge. For a moment he had no idea what it was, before realising it was his backpack. Just as it hit the surface of the lake, Alex launched himself after it and managed to grab it before it disappeared down into the depths.

The soaking wet backpack made it even harder to swim, and he almost ended up abandoning it, but he managed to make it to shore just before it came to that. Feeling exhausted, Alex dragged himself into the warmer shallows, and from there, on to dry land.

Once again he looked back around. Tiger was still standing on the edge, and though it was too far away for Alex to prove it, he knew that he was watching him.

Alex wanted to swear at him, to rant and rave and scream obscenities loud enough for him to hear. He was too tired though, much too tired, and starting to feel pretty ill. All that blood and the tablets he'd ended up overdosing on were fighting it out inside him. The teenager stumbled several steps away from the lake edge and into the shelter of the adjacent wood. Once he was sure he was out of Tiger's view, he stopped fighting back his nausea and threw up on the ground. Leaning in against a tree with his head on his arm, Alex waited for the world to stop spinning. It took around ten minutes for him to feel well enough to head back, with squelching steps, to the lakeside. Alex made sure Tiger was nowhere to be seen, before doing his best to clean the blood off of himself in the sun-warmed shallows.

His situation was bad. Very bad. He knew that. Tiger must know he wasn't human, and if he told anybody else... well, they probably wouldn't believe him. But if MI6 found out... They'd put him down like the animal he'd become.

So what should he do now? The only rational thing to do was to head back to camp, get properly cleaned up and dried, and then plan. Plan what to do with the rest of his life and how to extend it as much as he possibly could.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

'Where the hell have you been, Cub? For a nice little swim, hm? You're not a fish, Cub, why have you got yourself so bloody soaking wet?'

The Sargent had spotted him as soon as he'd managed to find his way back to the camp.

'Fell into a pond, did you, Cub?'

'Uh, I—'

'You did, didn't you?'

'N—'

'I think you did, Cub. I think you're so bloody clumsy you managed to fall into a pond. How else do you explain all this, Cub?'

He waved a hand in Alex's general direction.  The evening sun might have been warm, but he was still soaked through to the bone, along with his backpack.

'That's not quite w—'

Once again, the Sargent cut him off. He didn't want to hear the truth. To be honest, Alex wasn't about to give it to him either, but he didn't want everyone to think that he'd just managed to trip over into a  _ pond _  of all things. The Sargent just wanted to make fun of him in front of everyone else.

Talking about  _ everyone else... _

'Come on, Cub, let's go talk to the rest of K-Unit about your little adventure, and the consequences it's going to have for them, ay?'

Giving Alex no chance for protest, he forced the teenager to follow him to K-Unit's cabin.

This was not going to be good. Not going to be good at all.

The Sargent threw open the door without knocking, and all four of the other members of Alex's unit looked up. Wolf was sitting on his bunk, polishing a pair of boots. Eagle was reading and smoking as usual. Osprey and Tiger were sitting together in a corner and glared at Alex the minute their eyes focused on him. He couldn't help but notice that Tiger was now wearing a clean shirt with the edge a bandage peaking out the top.

''Ello men. Everybody's favourite little Cub here has not only been gallivanting off into the countryside, despite not been given leave to do so, but he's also managed to be such a clumsy little girl that he's gone and fallen into a pond.'

The rest of the unit listened, frowning, waiting to see how this was going to effect them all. The Sargent wouldn't be talking so gleefully if it wasn't something that was going to make them all suffer.

'As you can see, he's managed to get himself rather damp. He needs hanging out to dry. Say, all night. Sadly we have no access to a clothes line. I believe standing with a rifle above his head should be close enough. To make sure the rifle doesn't end up below the top of his head though, I'm going to need a his best friends in the whole wide world to keep an eye on him. That would be you guys.' 

Eagle groaned and Osprey immediately tried to argue a case against them getting punished for 'Some stupid thing that little bastard did.' The Sargent usually got on quite well with Osprey, the two of them practically being kindred souls. This time though, he wasn't making any exceptions. Suffering came before friendship, after all.

The four men were assigned a rota to split the night between them. They were told that if any man spotted Cub lowering the rifle, they could rely on their youngest team mate being punished for it, and them being rewarded for reporting 'yet another bloody failure' of Cub's. However, if the Sargent saw it happen himself and the soldier on watch duty at the time didn't report it, they would be receive the same punishment as Cub. So that he could keep a look out on the unit, the Sargent made Alex stand in view of the porter-cabin that acted as his office.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Eagle was assigned first watch. He sat with his back against the nearest cabin; one that was currently not being used. Unsurprisingly he spent most of the time smoking cigarettes and reading some tatty old paperback book. As usual, he also said little to Alex. He wasn't much of a speaker. Alex did catch Eagle glancing up at him quite often though, with an unreadable expression on his face. He was probably just checking that Alex hadn't lowered the rifle.

It was hard work, bloody hard work, keeping that gun in the air. It wasn't an especially heavy one, but it didn't take long for his arms to really start to ache and for the rifle to begin to waver above his head.

He was cold too. The evenings were long and warm at this time of year, but it was growing dark now, and he still wasn't dry. The gentle breeze he'd been enjoying earlier that day had turned sharp, making him shiver in his damp clothes.

Alex still felt rather ill as well, the fight going on inside him might have calmed down, but it still left him feeling weak and sick. The backache he'd being suffering from on-and-off since his transformation was also bothering him. On top of that, he hadn't eaten for quite some time, and had earlier thrown up everything he'd had for lunch. And later...  Alex's shudder wasn't from the cold this time, it was from revulsion. He'd bitten someone. Bitten  _ Tiger. _  Tiger might be a monster, a disgusting, deprived monster, but Alex was too. He hated himself for that.

Sometime late that evening, Alex guessed it was probably past eleven, the Sargent came to check up on him. Alex forced his aching arms into the air, forced them to hold the rifle up higher. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. After a minute or two of watching him, the Sargent spoke briefly to Eagle and then left. He didn't go back to his office, but headed off in the direction of his sleeping quarters. As he went, he called back a promise to check up on him later, but now Alex knew that he didn't have to be in constant fear of the Sargent watching him. He gave it a few more minutes, to make sure he wasn't coming straight back, then, slowly, began to lower his arms, groaning from the stiffness in his muscles.

Eagle looked up at him, a typically blank look on his suntanned face. Alex hesitated. Eagle wouldn't grass on him, would he? He didn't think so, but he wasn't sure. After a second, Eagle smiled slightly and made a small shrugging gesture with his shoulders, before returning to his book. Alex took the opportunity to stretch his arms out as best as he could, not daring to actually put the rifle down in case someone came along.

About twenty minutes later, Alex heard a small hissing noise from Eagle, and noticed approaching footsteps. He quickly raised the rifle above his head, but not all the way. He didn't want it to be obvious that Eagle had allowed him to have a rest.

His heart sank when he saw who it was. Osprey, looking as happy to see Cub as ever.

The two soldiers talked quietly together, both glancing around at Alex every now then. Then Eagle left and Osprey took his place, leaning against the wall of the empty cabin.

Alex avoided looking at him, but he could feel Osprey glaring at him all the same. Alex had to be very careful not to allow the rifle drop below his head while Osprey was the one watching him. He'd report him for it in an instance, and take a lot of pleasure in doing so. Hell, if the Sargent came to check on him while to was still on guard, Alex was sure he'd claim to have seen him drop the rifle, even if it was a complete lie. He was just that kind of lovely person.

Nothing happened apart from Alex's arms and back aching again, for about two hours. All the while, Osprey kept glancing up at Alex, his jaw locked and his eyes glaring. He seemed to be trying to make up his mind. Finally, Osprey shifted his weight off  the wall, a look of determination on his face, and walked up to Alex. There was aggression in his eyes. More than usual. The teenager looked back at him warily.

Osprey drew himself up to his full height, staring down his nose at the youngest member of his unit. Then, without pausing, he gave Alex a short, sharp punch to the stomach.

The spy gasped and couldn't stop himself from doubling over slightly. He just about managed to keep the rifle above his head. By the looks of things though, the Sargent's punishments were currently the least of his worries.

'What. The fuck. Are you, Cub?' He spat, his sentence sounding fractured from anger.

'What?' Alex replied weakly as he tried to straighten himself back upright. Had Tiger told Osprey everything? Had he really gone charging off to tell him about Cub biting him so quickly? Surely Osprey would just think Tiger was mistaken, or telling lies, or something?

'You know what I'm talking about, you creepy fucking little freak.'

Oh dear, maybe not... The two of them must be seriously good friends for Osprey to have accepted such an odd story. Or maybe he didn't believe him and just wanted another reason to hate and hurt Alex?

Either way, it didn't look as though things were going to go well for the teenager.

As Tiger grabbed hold of his jaw,  Alex wondered if Osprey knew the whole story, knew what Tiger had been trying to do. He couldn't imagine someone so quick to hate and bigotry as Osprey would be at all accepting of someone who was homosexual, but what if...what if he was a sexual predator too? It was not a cheering thought. Especially not with Osprey holding onto his jaw so tightly that Alex feared he was about to draw blood with his nails.

He forced Alex to look straight at him, his eyes flicking between Alex's own as though looking for something. Of course. The teenager knew that the Vampirism seemed to have a strange effect on his eye colour at times. Was Osprey looking for that?

'What the fuck is wrong with you, Cub?' he muttered, more to himself then the boy.

'Nothings wrong with me... Apart from the fact some creeps got hold of my face,' he replied.

Immediately Osprey's glare intensified, along with his grip. Alex flinched as a nail punctured through his skin. Using his free hand, Osprey punched him in the stomach again. 

Alex's reaction was to bring the rifle down on Osprey's head. He didn't hit him hard, but it still made Osprey gasp. Unfortunately it also made him shove Alex's head back violently. He pushed hard enough for the teenager to fall backwards. The rifle went flying out of the teenager's hands.

He twisted around and made a grab for the gun, but Osprey trod down on his arm and made to kick him in the head. Alex barely managed to move away in time, ripping his arm out from under Osprey's boot to avoid the blow.

He scrambled to his feet and stood a short distance away from Osprey, watching him warily while massaging the arm that had been stamped on. Thankfully, the older man hadn't done it hard enough to break anything.

The two of them stood watching each other for a moment, both wondering what the other was going to do next. Noticing he was right next to the rifle, Osprey grabbed it off the ground and aimed it at Alex, who rolled his eyes.

'It's not loaded, idiot.'

The soldier's lips twisted into a snarl, and repositioned his hold on the gun so he could hold it like a club.

'Wait. So. You're going to beat me to death with a rifle?' Alex asked incredulously. As he spoke, he absent-mindedly rubbed the back of one hand against a sore patch on his jaw.

'Maybe,' Osprey growled, taking a step towards Alex.

This was insane. Actually, it was looking more and more like Osprey honestly  _ was _  insane. The teenager made an attempt at pointing out to Osprey what an idiot he was being, all the same. 'What. Seriously? Damn, Osprey! What the hell are you thinking? I'm a fifteen years old kid you barely even know, for Christ's sake, and you're going to murder me here, while the rest of the unit knows you're the one watching me? And for what? I haven't done anything to you, I didn't ask to come here, hell, I wish I was anywhere but here! I—'

He stopped. There was blood on the back of his hand, from his neck. He was bleeding.

Osprey ignored his words and took another step forward. What he didn't ignore was sudden movement behind him. He whipped around, the rifle still held like a club in his hands. He was too slow to react in a way that would allow him to make the scene look any better than it was. If it had been anybody else in the world who had just appeared, the situation would have panned out very differently. But it wasn't the Sargent checking up on him again, wasn't Wolf coming to relieve Osprey from watch duty, or any random other soldier who had heard their scuffle. No. It was Tiger. Of course it was Tiger who was next on the rota. Some times Lady Luck could be a real bitch to Alex Rider.

'Oh. Hello, Tiger.' Osprey lowered the gun. Tiger gave him a surprised, but also slightly amused look.

'You weren't trying to kill him, were you? You know I wouldn't want that.'

Osprey grumbled something in reply as his friend walked over.

'Oh dear, Cub, what's the Sargent going to say when we tell him about this?' He pointed towards the gun Osprey was holding.

'What's he going to say when I tell him you're a paedophile?'

Tiger gave him a condescending look.

'That you're a lying little prick. No one would believe you.'

His face changed them, became odd, unreadable. Alex knew he'd spotted the small smear of blood in the corner of his jaw.

What would Tiger be feeling now? Fear? Anger? Hatred? ...Lust?

'Osprey. I can prove it. I can prove it to you.'

'What?' Osprey seemed a bit confused.

'I can prove that he's a monster. Look, there's blood.'

He took a step towards Alex, who threw his hands up in the air and said, 'Yes. There's blood. So what? I'm not a monster. I don't know what kind of drugs you're on, Tiger, but I'm not the monster here.'

It was a lie of course, and both of them knew it. Even after all the blood and tablets and nausea and throwing up earlier that evening, even the sight of his own blood had been enough to start his heart pounding. He could swear he could hear Tiger's and Osprey's heart beats too. Now the focus had been brought back to the blood, he could hear the sound even clearer. And clearer and clearer and clearer. The sound of their blood pumping through their veins rushed through him, every pulse of their separate hearts was like a firework going off in his mind. He shook his head violently, dragging himself away from his obsessive thoughts.

'Something wrong, Cub?' Tiger asked with a grim, knowing smile.

'Well, kind of, yeah, since I seem to have found myself at a Psychos Anonymous meeting.'

Osprey took another threatening step towards him. Alex took a step back in turn.

Things looked as though they were about to turn nasty. Maybe he should just make a run for it. But he had nowhere to go, and if he did run away for real, MI6 would be notified immediately and start hunting him down. Hiding until morning might be viable though. Since things had gone beyond what ever petty punishment the Sargent could deal out for him failing, getting away from Tiger and Osprey was now his top priority. Though the camp was lit (though not enough to ruin anybody's night vision, in case of an attack), if they tried to pursue him through the woods to his right, they'd soon lose track of him. He'd have a miserable night, but would still probably be better than if he'd spent the whole timeholding a rifle above his head, or at the hands of these creeps.

Osprey took another step towards him, and so did Tiger.

'Look, Cub, we aren't going to hurt you, we just want to ask you a few questions,' he said.

Alex made a scoffing noise, which Tiger ignored as he moved to stand beside Osprey.

'Just tell me Cub. Just tell me. Am I going to become...like you now?'

'What?' The teenager replied, confused. 'I'm sorry, there's nothing you could ever do to be as cool as me.'

Tiger didn't seem to find his reply very amusing. He screwed up his hands into fists, and his face into a furious expression.

'Stop fucking around, Cub. You know what I mean. You...bit me. Your eyes went all, all, creepy, and your teeth, they... You are one, aren't you? A vampire. A real, fucking, vampire. They exist, don't they? And you're one, and you bit me.' He spat the words out, seeming to struggle with them, and with his own disbelief. But he knew what he'd seen. He knew what had happened to him. Even if a million people told him it was impossible, he would still know it to be true. It kind of scared him.

Alex was feeling frightened now too. Tiger knew. Tiger  _ knew.  _ Still, he wasn't about to give up.

'I don't know what the hell you are going about. You need mental help. Next you're going to be saying Wolf's a the Tooth-fairy.'

Osprey took yet another step forward. They were getting a little close for comfort. Alex couldn't help glance over his shoulders. If he made a run for it in that direction, he'd just end up running through the part of the camp that was only used during the day: the mess hall, Sargent's office, and the like. His only option really was looking like the forested area off to his right.

His eyes fixed back intently on Tiger, though, when he saw a glint of metal. Slowly, the soldier held up a silver pocket knife with one hand, and pulled the blade out of its recess with the other. There was a moment when nobody moved at all. Alex knew what Tiger was about to do. He repositioned the knife over his forearm, and, without flinching, slowly dragged the blade across his skin. Alex's breath caught in the back of his throat. He couldn't help but stare at Tiger's arm. Blood. There was blood there. Warm, thick blood, welled up from the cut and starting to slide downwards. Little beads of it began to collect at the bottom and hang there for a moment or two, before becoming too heavy and falling as red droplets onto the ground below.

Osprey eyed his friend warily, thinking that he had perhaps taken this a little too far. Okay, so he knew Tiger had a sadistic streak, and could sometimes be a bit of a masochist, in certain situations... But this... This was weird even for him. Osprey noticed movement in his peripheral vision and glanced up to see Cub take one unsteady step towards them, and then another. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his side, and he seemed to be shaking. His eyes looked weird too. They were fixed on the arm Tiger held out, and had an odd look to them. Sort of dead and glassy and obsessed and fixated all at the same time. Their colour too, seemed off. Osprey had never really paid much attention to them, and why should he have done? He didn't give a fuck what colour Cub's eyes were. But now, they definitely didn't look normal. It might have just been the dim lighting, but they looked black, with little flashes of what could have been red in them. Closer and closer the boy came, each shuddering step seeming like a complex, internal struggle. Which it was.

Tiger started to get a little worried too, and took a couple of small steps back. He was still holding the knife, but it was angled away from himself, and towards Alex now.

'Look, look! I told you! Help me get him into that empty cabin. Then I can show you. Then I can prove to you he's a real freak.' Osprey nodded vaguely and glanced around to check how far behind them the cabin was.

With a nervousness that made both of them angry at themselves, the soldiers began to approach Cub again. His gaze flickered away from Tiger's arm, to eye them both up, and his lips pulled back into a soundless snarl that exposed his teeth. Osprey opened his mouth in shock a couple of times, trying to comment on what he'd just seen, but all he could manage was a quiet, strangled, 'Holy fuck.'

'See! See! I told you, I told you!' Tiger hissed with a level of excitement that seemed to border on insanity. 'Now help me get him into the cabin.'

'Why? Why the hell would we want to get into a confined space with this thing?'

'It's still Cub. He's still just a teenager.' He flicked the pocket knife closed and tucked it into an inside pocket. He wanted both hands free for trying to get hold of Cub, but wanted the blade close, just in case. 'Just hit him over the head with that rifle if you have to.'

Osprey had forgotten about the gun in his hands, and quickly swung it round to face Cub, his fingers on the trigger, before remembering it wasn't loaded, and moving it so he could hold it like a club again.

Tiger took another step towards Cub, now almost close enough to touch him.

'Come on Cubby, come on my little freak. You want some blood, don't you?' He took another step closer, feeling more and more nervous as the distance between them decreased. Osprey followed, behind him and to the side, the rifle held ready to be brought crashing down onto the teenager's skull if he made a wrong move.

'Good Cub, good boy. Don't want anybody getting hurt again do we?' He seemed to think that talking to Alex like he was some kind of dangerous animal would somehow help the situation.

The teenager was shaking and twitching all over; his dark eyes flickered all over the place. Alex knew he was in danger, and that he was a danger to the two soldiers in front of him too. He desperately wanted to just get out of there, to run and run and never look back, but he couldn't. There was blood. So close. So close. And he was so hungry and desperate. He felt like a drug addict; all he wanted was a fix. All he could think of was blood. 

He was in danger though. He knew he was too weak to fight both of them off at the same time. It was agonising knowing that if only he could drink some blood, he would probably be able to kill them both single-handedly, if he wanted. At the moment all he wanted was blood though. But, no, he wanted to stay safe as well. Self preservation and common sense were Alex's only current weapons against the vampirism. An internal war raged as he thought to gain control over his body again.

Then Tiger grabbed hold of one of Alex's wrists with his uninjured arm and made to pull it behind his back. In that second, the instinct that years of martial arts had driven into him kicked in. The part of him who was still human, still Alex, snapped into action. He twisted his body around to avoid the arm lock and used the momentum to punch at Tiger, catching him in the neck. The soldier let go of him and stumbled backwards, just as Osprey lunged at Alex with the butt of the rifle. The teenager tried to duck out of the way, but the gun hit him a glancing blow across the back of his shoulders. The motion sent him crashing head first towards the ground, but he managed to turn the fall into a a rather poorly executed roll at the last second. Though it stopped him from getting serious head injuries, he wasn't able to use the momentum correctly to pull himself straight to his feet. Quickly, he scrambled to stand up. He had to get up and away before Osprey tried to hit him again. He has barely managed to get himself upright before the soldier swung at him once more. He only just missed, but then Alex was off, sprinting towards the forest.

Osprey ran after him straight away, and Tiger came after him a few seconds later. Alex had had an exhausting day, little sleep and no food for several hours, but fear and desperation gave him speed. The other two men were in better condition, but neither were as fast runners as Alex.

The area they were chasing him through was useless for losing people in though, it was a part of the woods that men tramped through everyday on exercises. Alex would have to keep going into the denser, less well trodden areas if he wanted to lose them.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

It was just as he found himself really starting to slow down that the teenager realised his pursuers were now quite a distance behind him. He forced himself to keep going on, despite his burning lungs, aching muscles and increasing light-headedness. It wasn't enough just to get out of sight of them. He had to get far away enough that he could hide without them knowing which way he went. There was also the issue of sound; crashing through a wooded area with branches hitting you and twigs cracking beneath your feet wasn't exactly the quietest way to travel.

There soon came a point when Alex simply couldn't keep running any more. He could still hear Tiger and Osprey, but they seemed quite far away. Gasping for air and with a sharp stitch in his side, Alex decided to keep going, but to walk as quietly as he could. It wasn't easy, twigs still snapped with every other step, but he did his best to try and break as few as he could. Being the middle of summer, the night wasn't as dark as it could have been, but it was still hard to see where he was going.

Every now and then, silence would descend as Tiger and Osprey paused to try and listen out for the teenager. Alex would always freeze as soon as he noticed, and pray that no roosting birds would pick that moment to burst up out of the trees with a shrill warning call.

Eventually the sounds of pursuit disappeared. Alex kept thinking he could hear them again, but each time it proved to just be an animal moving about in the undergrowth or branches knocking against each other in the light night time breeze. The sounds kept him from settling though.

Alex thought his best bet was to head back towards camp, where Tiger and Osprey would be unable to try anything due to the presence of other people. As long as he was never alone with either of them, he should be all right, right? It was a weak hope. Everything was falling apart and Alex knew it. He was half tempted to just run off now, run off and try and... Then what? He had no supplies of any kind, nothing but the clothes he was standing in. He had to go back to camp.

By the time he drew close enough again to make out the shapes of the buildings, it was early morning. Wolf, who would have been the person on guard duty next, would know he'd gone missing, either from Osprey and Tiger, or from simply turning up at the right spot and finding him gone. Alex desperately wanted to drop onto his bunk and go to sleep, but he had a feeling that if he turned up now and woke any of the members of K-Unit up, they would force him to go back to holding the rifle above his head. Wherever the rifle was, that is. And he really didn't want to risk being alone with either of the men who knew what he was now. Or alone with anybody, for that matter. He didn't want to risk exposing himself to Wolf or Eagle, and didn't want to risk hurting them either.

Reluctantly, he decided the best thing he could do right now was curl up out of sight under a tree and try and get a couple of hours sleep, away from his unit and any other soldiers.

So, hungry, thirsty, incredibly tired and aching all over, Alex painfully lowered himself to the ground and, tucking up his legs and wrapping his arms around them, leant back against a large tree trunk. It wasn't easy getting to sleep, especially since his shoulders and back ached horribly.  _ Being strapped down onto a metal table for days and being hit over the shoulders with a gun will do that to you,  _ Alex thought to himself, as everything slowly faded away and he finally fell asleep.

 


	17. Overcoming Obstacles

It was hard to tell exactly, but Alex guessed it was around 5AM when he next awoke. He was stiff, hungry and horribly cold. He shook dew out of his hair as he pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the tree he'd slept against for support.

With a feeling of deepest dread, he made his way back to camp. The young spy didn't know what kind of reception he had to look forward to when he got back, but he doubted it would be pleasant. Alex found himself wondering in the Sargent knew yet about him running off, and if he did, what Osprey and Tiger had told him. Even if he didn't know, Wolf and Eagle must. Alex had no idea how he was going to explain his actions to anyone, especially since he had no clue what story his attackers would have spun to put themselves in a better light. Neither they nor Alex could exactly tell the truth. He'd probably just have to make something up and see who's lies were believed. The teenager didn't much fancy his chances.

It took him longer than it should have done to get back, reluctance and exhaustion dragging at him with every step. By the time he'd reached camp the sky was already starting to lighten. There was a very pissed off looking Wolf waiting for him. A very very pissed off looking Wolf.

He was leaning against the same empty cabin as the others had while watching him. Where as Eagle and Osprey had looked mostly bored (and on Osprey's account, also suspicious and annoyed), Wolf seemed about ready to rip the head off the next person he saw. Especially is that person was a certain blond teenage spy who's codename began with 'C' and ended with 'is a dead man.'

A twig snapped under Alex's foot as he approached. He could have avoided it, but he wanted K-Unit's leader to spot him while he was as far away as possible. Hopefully it would give Wolf time to get over the whole bare-handed beheading thing before he was close enough to actually do it. Or perhaps not. The man pushed himself away from the wall the second he spotted Alex and marched over to the boy, fury visible in his movement and on every line of his face.

The teenage spy took a deep breath and stood his ground, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Wolf strode right up to where he waited at the edge of the woods. A hand swung up towards him, and despite himself, Alex flinched.

'Oh for fucks sake, Cub! I'm not going to hit you!' He shouted the words into the boy's face as he stabbed a finger against his chest, as though that were the real issue.

'I'm not going to fucking punch you. But you are going to tell me what the hell you've been playing at, disappearing off on Osprey like that! Tiger and him spent about two fucking hours searching for your sorry little ass. Where the hell did you go?'

'I, ah...' Alex was sure he'd have an easier time answering if Wolf wasn't so close and shouting right at him, but he refused to let himself take a step backwards. The unit leader was clearly in one of those moods where any signs of weakness would be pounced upon and used as an excuse to yell at him more.

'Just the woods. I was just out there,' he gestured vaguely towards the forested area behind him.

Wolf sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though he couldn't believe he had to deal with this situation right now. But at least his voice had returned to a normal volume when he spoke again, though he still sounded frustrated.

'So. Let me get this straight. Osprey sees you lower that bloody rifle. You claim it never happens. He insists it does. You two get into an argument. He gets too close. You whack him around the head with the gun and run off into the wild to spend a night being one with nature.'

Alex found himself looking away as he muttered, 'Um, something like that.' Osprey could have come up with a lie that put him in an even worse light than that. Him and Tiger probably conspired together to work out what would make for the most believable story. One where Osprey allowed himself to get drawn into an argument put a shred of the blame at his feet, though not enough for him to appear in the wrong. Oh no, it was that Cub kid who'd caused the problem. Arguing and lying and resorting to violence before running away from the situation like some stroppy kid. The Sargent was going to have a field day with this.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

He did. It was past eight in the morning before Alex finally managed to escape the man's office, his ears ringing with insults and scorn. The teenage spy had long come to terms with how unfair the world could be, but he still couldn't help feeling as though he's suffered a great injustice all the same. None of this had been his fault. None of it. Tiger and Osprey had been the ones that had attacked him and forced him to flee. He wouldn't even have had to be out there holding that stupid rifle above his head is he hadn't been forced to jump into the lake to get away from Tiger. And he wouldn't have needed to do that in the first place if the bastard hadn't been so keen on __molesting__ him. Alex had never asked for any of this, and now he'd had to spend precious time he could have been sleeping, listening to the Sargent chew him out for something that hadn't been his fault at all.

He'd never even wanted to be here at the SAS camp. He certainly hadn't wanted to be bitten by a damn __vampire__. Or, to even go on that last mission at all. Or any other mission, to be honest. The last couple of years of his life had been full of people forcing him into one unwelcome situation after another. And now he was going to have to run assault course A twice a night every night for the next three weeks. He wanted to stamp his feet and shout at someone about just how unfair all of this was. But he didn't. Alex was pretty sure that deserved a medal at the very least, considering how shit his entire life was right now. Who knew that losing an uncle could fuck up your life quite so royally?

There were probably worse things the Sargent could have made him do that repeatedly run assault course A, like leaving him in a tank of mildly peckish piranha fish for three weeks to be nibbled at at their leisure. The trouble was going to be balancing his medication. He'd have to take as little as he could beforehand if he wanted to stand a chance of making it over that thing two times in a row and still having enough time left for getting any sleep. Assault course A was the longest, nastiest and muddiest of the four circuits at the camp. So far Alex's record was just under an hour and a half. That threatened to take up three hours of his time every night and the teenager doubted he'd be allowed off other duties early to complete it.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

That day the whole camp had to attend CBRN Defence training. That was all about learning to combat chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare. It was surprisingly interesting stuff, though Alex had to admit that a lot of it went over his head as he didn't know the basics of the subject like the other men did. His meagre hours of sleep last night didn't help him concentrate, and neither did his close proximity to Tiger and Osprey. The two men were sat a row behind him, and though Alex couldn't prove it, he felt sure that their eyes were firmly fixed on him more often that the guest lecturer. He found himself feeling constantly tense under their scrutiny, well aware that the two of them had the power to bring his whole world crashing down around him.

Alex didn't know what to do about that. The only way he had to guarantee their silence was to kill them, and he didn't think he'd be able to get away with that. He also wasn't sure he could bring himself to do it, unless perhaps, they attacked him again. There was a slim chance he might be able to make some kind of deal and buy their silence. Alex couldn't think of anything he had to offer that would interest Osprey. On the other hand, he knew for sure that there was one or two things Tiger wanted for him. Except he'd rather give the piranhas a go than agree to any of that.

So for now Alex played the waiting game, idly scribbling down notes on anthrax bioterrorism while pretending that he wasn't the carrier for a deadly disease of his own.

After the final lecture ended in the evening, Alex got some further bad news. While he was loading up his plate with the flavourless boiled meat and vegetables that was served most evenings for dinner, Eagle wandered over to him. The tall blond man seemed to be the only member of K-Unit that was one speaking terms with him at the moment, not that he was exactly the chatty type though.

'Sargent tell you that Tiger and Osprey are running the course tonight too?'

Alex stopped with a ladle full of peas halfway to his plate.  _ _Oh. Oh dear.__ That was not good news. He forced himself to start moving again and replied casually, 'Nah. How come?'

'Said that a kid shouldn't be able to escape from two trained SAS soldiers. He's not impressed they never managed to find you either.'

'Ah, right.'

Alex waited awkwardly for Eagle to start grilling him about running off last night. He might not be seen as an equal by anybody at the camp, but he was still expected to meet their high standards and obey their rules. What he'd done had involved directly disobeying orders while already in trouble and had highly inconvenienced the rest of his unit.

To his relief, Eagle simply nodded to show he'd heard the reply and left to go sit with the rest of K-Unit. Alex would have to perch on the end of a bench at their table and do his best to ignore the venomous looks three of his team mates would be giving him.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Alex got to the start of the obstacle course at ten to eight. He thought it was best to be early, as it would give the Sargent one less thing to shout at him about. Unfortunately, the Sargent was also early, and while they waited for Tiger and Osprey to appear he spent most of the time shouting at Alex. He did his best to let the insults wash over him while pretending to be paying his superior officer his full attention. Instead he was thinking about how easy it would be to rip out this shouty, angry man's throat.

He was distracted from his thoughts by the arrival of the other two men. Neither looked very happy to be there and kept shooting dirty looks at Alex. He ignored them as best he could while the Sargent gave them a few last instructions.

'Right. Full course, hill run included. You're to do two laps in a row, no stopping for breaks in between. No packs or rifles. All three of you deserve to carry double loads for your stupidity but my staff have better things to do than stand around watching out for cheating in the time it'd take you little girls to haul a pack around the course twice.'

Alex was immediately relieved at the news. Without the usual heavy backpack and gun, he could get the thing over and done with far quicker than he'd expected.

'Right then, is that all understood?'

The three of them gave a loud,'Sir, yes sir!' and the Sargent motioned irritably for them to begin.

Alex decided to hang back a little. He didn't like the idea of the other two being right behind him, and they were likely to get ahead of him anyway. They taller and stronger than he was, and had each other to help them out over the obstacles. Behind him the Sargent yelled at him to get going, so Alex allowed himself to pick up a little extra speed as he jogged towards the first part of the course.

By the time he got to the wooden barricade, Osprey was already helped Tiger over the top. Alex picked the corner furthest away from where the other two men had gone over. Rather than standing straight up at a right angle from the ground, the wall leant forward towards Alex, making it lower but much harder to get over. However, there were no set rules on how obstacles were supposed to be attempted, he just wasn't allowed to go around them. So the teenager made good use of one of the wooden beams that were planted in the ground to help hold the wall up. After that he simply had to jump down the other side without going over on his ankle and repeat the whole process two more times. Each barricade was a plank higher than the last, making them progressively more difficult. By the time Alex had managed to scramble over the third, the other two members of his unit had almost finished the next obstacle. That suited him perfectly. In the past when he'd had to do assault courses with the rest of them, Osprey had 'accidentally' kicked Alex in the face while going over the barricade and pushed him into the water below a couple of the later parts of the course. Best to keep far enough behind them that he wouldn't have to talk to them, let alone get hurt by them. The two men were probably enjoying outstripping Alex anyway, showing off how much tougher and stronger they were than him.

The next section was the 'trenches', aptly named as they were simply deep rectangular holes dug out of the ground. Each one was wide enough apart that it took considerable effort to successfully jump over when laden with a heavy pack. Alex didn't have one on him, and hadn't taken any of his tablets that evening, so he managed the task easily enough. Well enough in fact that he had to force himself to slow down again so he wouldn't catch up with Osprey and Tiger. The two of them were just finishing with the next section, which required crawling under barbed wire. 

The obstacle stretched on for about thirty metres and was very slow going. In winter it was likely a real slog through freezing cold mud, but in the middle of May it was practically dry. It was also one part of the course where Alex's smaller stature made it easier, and he'd only managed to catch himself on the wire once. Little strips of fabric and the odd tuft of hair showed where other men had been less lucky. There was also a distinct metallic smell to the whole section. The teenager forced himself to believe that it was entirely down to the barbed wire, and not traces of old blood lingering on it.

After that it was on to the 'log jam', a series of overlapping tree trunks. Each one was thick and difficult to grasp as they'd been made from the trunks of huge deciduous trees and years of use had scrapped away all the bark, leaving them slippery and smooth. The obstacle formed a bit of a maze, with each log being placed horizontally at different heights, forcing them to climb over some and duck under others. Alex was slim enough to be able to slip through some of the gaps that were too small for most of the soldiers, sparing him from pushing himself into the dirt or having to gingerly climb over logs crowned with barbed wire.

Again Alex had to force himself to slow down. He didn't usually allow himself to go this long without taking a tablet or two and he was finding himself feeling fitter and stronger than usual. He realised he was almost looking forward to running the course the next day. With no one else on it he'd be able to go as fast as he liked. It'd be a real opportunity at last to push himself and see what he could do now. Until then though, he had to make sure he kept back. It would be best for all three of them if there was no confrontation between them right now.

Alex allowed them to finish with the obstacle after the next one as he slowly jogged up to it. That took the two of them disappeared from sight and the young spy realised what a relief that was. There was something about being able to see them just ahead of him that had made him feel all bitter and angry and anxious and... something else. As Alex went over the tire run, being careful not to trip, he tried to work out what.

The answer evaded him until he was halfway through the following section of the course. It was made up of more tires, but this time they were suspended sideways on chains. Together they formed a kind of tunnel he had to squeeze through. All of them were free-hanging though and unconnected from one another, making it difficult to move from one to the next. When he was part way through he looked up and spotted Tiger jumping down from the monkey bars ahead, Osprey already jogging on towards the next task. For just a moment Tiger glanced back towards Alex, before continuing on.

The teenager's whole body tensed, his mind filling with one urge. To chase after them and bring them down. This was why he kept finding himself speeding up. He wanted to go after the two men. The way they were running ahead of him made it so hard to resist pursuit. But he'd figured it out now. He knew what was wrong. He could control this.

The whole reason Alex had made sure he wasn't ahead of them was to avoid the feeling of being hunted. Now it appeared he'd have to fight equally hard to avoid being the hunter.

Though the muddier areas of the course were dryer than normal, there was still plenty of water underneath the monkey bars so he concentrated hard on not slipping off of them. They were made for someone with a longer arm reach than him, but he was able to get good momentum going and used the swinging movement to help him get from bar to bar.

It was a long jog to reach the next section of the course but he couldn't go too slowly as it was the part that looped back closest to base. If the Sargent had really assigned a staff member or two to watch the course, he was bound to find one along this particular stretch. Alex was right, and made sure to give a polite nod as he went past. The man raised a hand in acknowledgement but didn't bother looking up from the battered paperback novel in his hands. The teenager didn't blame him, assault course watching duty must be incredibly dull, especially when you were watching out for only three people and had to stand there double the normal amount of time.

Alex slowed down again once he was out of sight, and not just because he wanted to keep the two others running the course far ahead of him. He hated the next section. It wasn't particularly difficult but there was something about it that made him feel tense and panicky every time. It was simply known as 'the tunnels' though in reality, they weren't really tunnels at all. Instead they were two sets of three pipes; huge industrial strength black pipes big enough to crawl through. Which was exactly what they had to do. Something about the dark, enclosed space made Alex's heart start to pound against his ribcage and his arms begin to tremble underneath him. It brought back horrible memories of crawling through the abandoned mine in Cornwall during his first mission, and of the area he was forced through before being made to take part in the real life version of the Feathered Serpents video game.

But the worst was yet to come as the pipe began to slop downwards. He always tried to go for the right hand one of the three if he could, as it didn't seem to descend as steeply, but it didn't make any difference. No matter which one his chose his hands would sink into freezing cold water sooner or later. Now that he was alone for the first time while doing this section of the course, Alex found it a lot more difficult to force himself to keep going. Usually there'd be someone behind him yelling at him to hurry up, or else the rest of his unit would be forging ahead and he'd have to rush to catch up with them.

The teenager took a few deep, steadying breaths before forcing himself to continue further down the tunnel. The water was horribly cold and he found himself shivering once it was up to his chest. He paused again when there was only just enough room to keep his head above water. The only thing to be heard was his raspy, panicked  breathing echoing along the pipe and the gentle lapping of water around him. Alex tried to look on the bright side. At least he wasn't having to push a heavy pack ahead of him this time. It'd snagged on something in the tunnel once, making the young spy fear for a horrible moment that he was going to get trapped down there and drown. Perhaps it was best to not dwell on that particular memory. Or any of the others that crowded into his mind. A giant Portuguese Man O' War drifting closer and closer. Metal railings refusing to move as he drowned beneath them. A great white shark cruising towards him. There were even more unpleasant memories than that involving water and rapids and drowning, but Alex did his best to drag his thoughts away from them. They weren't going to get him anywhere. It was just an assault course, not a death sentence. He hoped.

Fixing the SAS motto of, 'who dares wins' firmly in his mind, Alex took the plunge.

It was only a short stretch under water before he burst back out into the air, gasping. The two pipes that made up the obstacle weren't connected, allowing him back up for oxygen. It was some sort of unspoken rule among the soldiers that you just did the two sections together. It wasn't far, and coming up for breath in between was seen as a sign of weakness. Alex couldn't help it though. The only way he could handle being submerged underwater in a cramped, dark space like that was by taking a break in the middle. He never allowed himself long, just a few second to fill his lungs up again and to reassure himself that he wasn't going to die.

The second pipe was the same length as the first, but more of it was underwater. By the time he'd managed to drag himself out of it he was soaking wet and feeling emotionally exhausted. Alex allowed himself to collapse onto the ground once he was out in the open, just long enough to get his breathing under control and his thoughts in order.

His front was muddy by the time he picked himself back up, but Alex didn't care. The next section was another jog through a forested area, leading to a large clearing with another obstacle in it. This one was similar to the third one, though where that had involved crawling under barbed wire, with this one he had to wrestle his way down a narrow lane draped in military camouflage netting. Though it was nice not to have to worry about raking his back open, this section was the longer of the two and fighting with the heavy netting all the way was surprisingly tiring. It was a good thing the Sargent wasn't around to see how much he struggled with the task, but eventually he was through to the other side.

If Alex had been doing route B, he would have taken the path off to the right and headed straight to the second to last part of the course. Unfortunately though, he'd been assigned assault course A and that meant he had to do the hill run. The hill run was pretty much exactly what it sounded, a run through an extremely hilly area. Apparently though someone had decided that the Lake District was simply too flat for their liking, so they'd taken an already craggy area and constructed a number of extra man-made hills just for them. Alex wasn't sure if he really appreciated the effort they'd gone to, but at least by the end of the one mile run he wasn't quite so freezing cold any more. It looked as though yesterday was the start of a bad habit that involved going swimming in all his clothes every evening.

Finally he reached the next obstacle, with no sign of the other two men ahead of him at all. He was glad as this climbing wall was one of the things Osprey had a habit of trying to push him off of. It was nothing intimidating, just four walls with hand and footholds that you needed to edge along, and coming off wasn't too bad, it just lead to another dip in icy muddy water. All the same, falling in in front of everybody was humiliating. He wasn't sure which had been worse, the time Osprey had shoved him off, or the one where he'd slipped off himself due to how muddy the footholds had got. It didn't help that he was really a little too short to properly reach the handholds too. This time around though he didn't have too much trouble. There was no one to push him in and the mud had turned to dirt that simply crumbled harmlessly away beneath his shoes.

That left one more long jog and one last thing to face before he'd finished his first lap of the course. He slowed to a stop as he approached it, trying to work out how he was going to manage this alone. The final obstacle was similar to the walls he'd had to climb over right at the start, but this was stood straight up and was about twice the height the others had been. Alex had never made it over before without help from the rest of the unit. That was nothing to be ashamed of, they'd all needed help from one another too. However, it did present him with a problem. How was he going to manage it alone? He couldn't just skip the section as there'd be likely be a staff member waiting at the finishing line with a full view of the other side of the wall. If he tried to just go around, they'd see.

Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. With the strange mental image of him taking a stick and poking at his own brain, the teenager went searching for that  _other_ side of himself. It was just there under the surface, like a cat curled up with its eyes closed while only feigning sleep. At his intrusion it yawned and stretched, exposing sharp teeth and hooked claws, before looking at him expectantly.

'Well, here goes, um, something,' Alex muttered to himself as he opened his eyes again and focused on the wall in front of him. Everything seemed immediately brighter, more intense. He could see every whirl in the grain of the wood. He could hear the grass rustling in the slight evening breeze. He could smell dirt and sweat and metal and plants and everything else around him.

He ran. In just a few seconds he'd reached the wall and flung himself at it. He didn't make it all the way up in one jump, but caught his foot on a ridge that was so small he couldn't even remember spotting it. From there he was able to reach up and bodily haul himself over the top of the wall. He sat precariously on the thin ledge for a moment, stunned that that had actually worked. The man a distance in front of Alex looked pretty surprised too, peering over the top of a ratty looking newspaper at him.

The young spy carefully lowered himself down the other side of the wall and then dropped the rest of the way. As he finally reached the finishing line and the staff member next to it, he waved and greeted the man with a cheerful, 'Evening!'

Now all there was left to do was run the entire course all over again. There was still no sign of Osprey and Tiger anywhere ahead of him. Alex wondered if maybe their punishment had involved just running the course once. He hoped so. If not, chances were they'd got far enough ahead of him that he wouldn't have to worry about them. He thought to himself that chances were this time around would be much simpler.

He was wrong.

 


	18. The Noose Descends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how long this chapter ended up taking. I've been very busy in real life. I may also have got a little carried away with writing other fics. I only intended to write one or two short chapters for Foe Yay before returning to this but I ended up writing almost 20k words between that and another fic. But here we go again at last!

Everything went perfectly fine for the first seven obstacles. Better than fine in fact. With no one around Alex was able to throw himself at the course with everything he'd got. It was hard work and very tiring, but oh so satisfying to be able to push himself to his limits. Alex decided that tomorrow he'd avoid taking any tablets at all in the evening and see just how fast he could go.

He allowed himself a short break after the monkey bars to get his breath back. He'd be jogging past the first two of the course watchers in a minute anyway. Though it was unlikely they were timing him, Alex didn't want to appear unexpectedly soon just in case it looked as though he'd been cheating. It also gave him some extra time to psyche himself up for the next task. He didn't think the tunnels were going to be any more enjoyable a second time around.

He was right.

Alex forced himself through the first tunnel, sticking to the right hand side one as usual. At the midpoint he came up for air again. He really didn't want to go back under. His heart was racing uncomfortably in his chest and unpleasant memories were crowding in at the back of his mind. Maybe he could just climb out the side and skip the second tunnel?

No. He couldn't do that. Alex Rider was no coward. He'd faced far worse things than a length of harmless black pipe. It couldn't hurt him.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Alex forced himself to dive back under the water to the mouth of the tunnel. Though this section was under water for longer than the last, he was still only submerged for a few seconds. Alex pulled his head above the surface and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and for a second he couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. There were only tiny slits of light ahead. Had someone blocked off the end of the pipe?

Then the darkness moved. Before Alex could even process that it wasn't a blockage at the end of the tunnel, but a man right in front of him, he was shoved back underwater. His head hit the tough corrugated plastic and rebounded but the figure above him grabbed hold of his hair and pushed him further down the tunnel, into deeper water.

He couldn't breath. Couldn't see. Couldn't scream.

Alex's elbows and knees slammed into the sides of the tunnel as he fought desperately to escape. All rational thought fled, replaced by pure, unbridled panic.

The teenager's attacker held him down with an iron grip, one hand knotted in his hair and the other digging in between his shoulder blades. They had as much of their weight as they could manage in these cramped quarters pressing down on Alex's back. It felt like all the air was going to be crushed out of him before he even had a chance to drown. His chest scrapped against the gritty pipe below as he tried to claw his way up to oxygen.

In any other situation, the vampire side of him would have been able to kick in and help him escape. But the terror shooting through him as he drowned in that dark, confined space was entirely _Alex._ There was no space left in his mind of handholds for that other side of him to grab on to as he was forced to relive so many of his past horrors all combined into what looked looked like a watery grave.

Then the weight was eased off his back and Alex burst out of the water. This time he whacked the back of his head on the tunnel above him but he didn't care. All that mattered was taking in great, shuddering breaths of air.

Alex didn't have the energy to fight as he was dragged out of the pipe by his shirt, the sound of his uneven breathing and coughing rebounding off the walls, filling the enclosed space.

'I got him!'

'Fuck, Osprey, how long did you hold him under?'

'Not long enough if you ask me; he's still alive.'

'You sure about that?'

'Fuck you, course I am. Look.'

Light flooded over Alex as he was pulled out of the tunnel. Strong arms yanked him off to one side, propping him up against the outside of the middle pipe. If they hadn't kept hold of him, Alex wouldn't have been able to keep himself upright. As it was, Alex's head lolled off to one side limply as all of his energy went into drawing oxygen back into his lungs as he tried his best to get a hold of himself.

The saying 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' is rarely true. While Alex had lived through and coped with much, each new horror had left a little extra scarring in his mind. Not something that could be seen, not something that could be felt, but it was there all the same. Alex had been aware of it enough when facing the tunnels under normal circumstances. After what Osprey had just put him through, it was going to take some time for him to get his mind back into order.

Not that his two ambushers were willing to give him that time.

Tiger stepped in front of Alex, looming over him with his arms crossed.

'Right. Cub. You are going to give us some answers.'

'And no running off this time!' Osprey added, shaking Alex by the shoulders for extra emphasis.

'Okay', Alex rasped. 'Okay.' He pulled his head up and let it rest against the curving plastic behind him. There was no point struggling. No point trying to get away. He was exhausted and his whole body felt heavy beyond belief, as though he was drenched in rapidly hardening cement, not water. He didn't want to answer any questions these two men might have for him, but it seemed as though they were willing to do whatever it took to drag the truth out of him. And what harm could it do? They already knew. He was already doomed.

If either of the soldiers were surprised by his agreement to cooperate, they didn't show it. They'd both been aware for a while that the tunnels appeared to be the boy's biggest weakness. Though they didn't know why he seemed so hesitant to approach that one obstacle, they had been aware that it would make the perfect trap for their youngest team mate. Besides, what Osprey had just done was likely to get anyone to want to start talking, let alone some upstart teenager.

'So, Cub. Am I? Am I gonna end up like you?'

Alex shook his head weakly. 'No. No venom.'

Above him, Tiger let out a sigh of relief. He'd obviously been worrying about this since yesterday afternoon.

'No venom? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What the fuck is this whole thing?' It was Osprey who spoke that time. He was still pushing Alex back against the side of the tunnel but he knelt as far away as possible from him. Just in case a certain someone tried to bite him.

'Yeah, Cub. You better explain this.'

'Explain what?' He couldn't avoid their questions, but Alex wasn't going to make this easy for them if he could help it. He could be stubborn when he wanted to be, and snarky too.

'Don't you dare play games with us, Cub!' Osprey shook him again to make sure he got the message.

'First. What are you? Are you really, you know, a vampire?' Tiger said the last word hesitantly, as though he couldn't believe he was actually asking this question.

Alex sighed. There was no point trying to pretend he was just your average teenage spy. They'd seen too much.

'Yeah,' he admitted quietly.

'This is so fucking freaky,' the soldier next to him grumbled.

'Right. So. You really are. You really are one of them. Holy shit. And you bit me, you little creep!'

'Hey! I wasn't the one being the creep!' There was no way Alex was going to allow Tiger to lay the blame for what happened yesterday at his feet. 'I'd been doing so well, then you came along and tried —tried all that on, of course I was going to defend myself!'

'But you bit me!'

'You got too close. Way too close.'

'You still fucking bit me.'

'Well you didn't seem to be complaining about it at the time.'

Alex pulled a face as he remembered just how much Tiger had seemed to enjoy it.

Above him, Tiger shifted from one foot to another in silence. Then he said, 'So. If you were to do that again...'

'I'm not going to!' Alex snapped back immediately. He pulled himself up straighter. This wasn't something he was going to change his mind on, no matter what they said or threatened, and no mater how tempted some part of him might be.

Tiger crouched down in front of Alex, getting on his eye level and a little too close for comfort. Osprey's grip tightened, as though he was afraid the teenager might launch himself at his friend and rip the man's jugular out. Which was something Alex might consider doing if Tiger didn't wipe that calculating look from his face.

'But don't you need to, kid? Don't you want to?'

'No. No I do not.'

'Really?' Osprey asked with a sneer. 'What's to stop you going and biting some other poor son of a bitch?'

'I've got medicine. Tablets. And I've got self control. I mean, I haven't taken anything recently but do you see me tearing your throats out? No. I've got this under control. As long as no one goes around trying to you know, molest me, I'm fine.'

Trying to make it look coincidental, Osprey slowly let go of Alex. It was because he knew the boy wouldn't be able to escape with the two of them so close by. Not because he was worried that a bit of man-handling might fall under the umbrella of 'molestation.' No, of course not.

'Who else knows about this, Cub?'

Alex gave a tight smile and a casual shrug to hide his true feelings as he said, 'Not many people. A couple of doctors, some people from MI6, probably a few governments types, and now you two.' He didn't mention that that was two people too many, or that Jack knew as well.

'And what happens if anyone finds out we know about your little secret?'

He paused before answering, a way of spinning this in his favour coming to mind.

'Depends. Do you want to know what happens to me, or to you two?' Alex gave them both a cold look. It couldn't have been too intimidating, considering he was still soaking wet and starting to shiver, but he tried all the same.

'What happens to us?' Osprey's top priority was himself after all.

Alex forced a thoughtful look on to his face. 'Well, MI6 isn't going to be happy. Honestly, I have no idea what they'd do about you guys if they found out that you know about this. No one's supposed to.' Well, that certainly wasn't a lie. 'Guess a couple of SAS soldiers finding out isn't as bad as some random civilian, but still, there could be real trouble. This is high-security government stuff we're talking about, after all.'

The two men shared an uneasy look.

'And what about you?' Tiger asked. 'If this is all so top secret I can't imagine them being happy to find you've gone and let anyone find out.'

He looked straight up at Tiger when he replied, 'No. They wouldn't be happy. That's the only reason I haven't passed along any mention of your... actions. I can assure you that that kind of behaviour from one of their elite SAS is something they'd be more upset about than one of their operatives being forced to defend himself in an undesirable way.'

The two men had the advantage here and it was going to take all of Alex's acting skills to convince them otherwise. They knew what he was. Now he just had to impress upon him that what he was was _dangerous_ . He needed to look as if he were in control, and make them believe that keeping his secret was in their own best interests.

Tiger shifted uncomfortably, then pulled himself back up onto his feet again. 'Yeah, but still...' he trailed off, unable to decide where his train of thought was going.

Alex stood up as well and began to nonchalantly wring the excess water out of his t-shirt. The other two made small, warning movements towards him. They weren't done with him yet, but they didn't try and force him back down to the ground either. Maybe he was getting somewhere. Honestly? He'd expected to have been pinned to the ground by now, beaten and bloody. This was going better than expected. So far.

'How long you been like this then?' Tiger wanted to know.

'Not long.' It was actually hard to say exactly, so much of the change had been a blur and no one had gone to the efforts of keeping him informed on the times and dates of it all. 'About two months in all.'

'And how many people, you know, like you, are there?'

'Not a clue. Only one I've ever met was the lunatic who bit me.' Now, there was one person he didn't want to have to think about right now.

'But how many do you think there are?'

'No clue.'

'But if you had to guess?'

'I just said, I don't have a clue. Not many I'm guessing, else it wouldn't be a governmental secret, would it?'

Osprey chipped in with a question of his own. 'Why are you here?'

'Because I was sent here.'

Osprey's expression darkened. He preferred it when he'd been drowning the flippant brat.

'Yeah. Obviously. Why did they send you here though?'

Did Alex want to admit this bit? He'd have to find a way of making this sound better than it really was. They didn't need to know this had been his one and only chance to be rehabilitated into human society and that he'd already blown it in what could end up being a very fatal way.

'It was a test. They want to start using me as a field agent again as soon as possible, but they needed to know how I'd get on in a tough environment surrounded by people.' He let his voice drop in to an irritated whine as he continued, 'And I was doing so well! Then you guys came and fucked everything up and if they find out about this they're bound to keep me back for another couple of months. Do you know how boring that is? Especially when you've got a lot more energy to burn than the average human being.'

Osprey made a derisive noise and glared at Alex. 'I would have thought they'd keep things like you on a tighter leash!'

'Yeah, is that all the government will really do, stop you being around normal people for a couple of months?'

Alex frowned. 'Okay, more like three or four...' _Or, more like a bullet to the back of my head..._

'And you don't want that to happen, do you, Cub?' Tiger asked. His voice was soothing but there was that smug, predatory look on his face that put the teenager on edge.

'If you ask me, he should be put away. It's not fair on proper people to have a monster like him around, especially when they don't know anything about it!' Osprey argued. 'What'd happen if he goes rabid in the night and attacks the unit? He's dangerous. A liability. He should be put down. We've got to tell someone about this.'

Tiger ignored him and took a small step towards Alex, bringing him in just a little too close for comfort. 'So Cub, how about this? We keep your little secret and in return —' he glanced around, and even though there was no one else nearby, he lowered his voice, 'you and I get to know each other a little better. You can bite me again. I know you want to. And in return...' It was hard to tell if he trailed off there to leave his insinuations up to interpretation, or because he noticed the expression on Alex's face. Perhaps the teenager's eyes had started to darken just a little as well.

He bunched his hands into fists at his side and said through gritted teeth, 'Wasn't jumping off a cliff enough of a hint that I don't want anything, and I mean anything, to do with you? I'm not biting you and I have no interest in “getting to know you” in any capacity whatsoever.'

Tiger slowly folded his arms again, knowing that it was a casual way to show off how muscular they were. 'Well that's a pity, Cub. A real pity. Looks like we are going to have to tell someone about this after all.'

'Like they'd believe you!' Alex snapped.

At the same time, Osprey said, 'Yes, tell the Sargent! Tell the others. Tell the newspapers. Tell every-fucking-one that abominations like him exist. They need to know.'

'Unless...' Tiger began carefully. Without another word, he lunged at Alex, who made a break for it. A slight twitch in the soldier's folded arms had given him the moment's warning he'd needed.

Quick to catch on when violence was on offer, the other man made a swipe for the teenager. His outstretched hand hit Alex's side but he didn't manage to get a hold on him. Fuelled by fear and a long break from his medication, he shot off ahead of them.

He was relieved for once that he had to do the hill run. That would allow him to put a good distance between himself and his pursuers. Even while running away from two men who meant him harm, Alex didn't want to have to skip any of the obstacles. He'd only get in more trouble for that. Not that the Sargent's punishments were likely to to matter to him soon. The noose was descending around his neck, and no matter how fast he ran along this dirt track, it wasn't going to save him.

Alex ran on and full speed until fatigue and a stitch in his side persuaded him to slow down. There was an unpleasant, prickling sensation between his shoulder blades, one he couldn't place. Glancing around he saw that he'd left the two soldiers far behind. It wasn't surprising. Alex didn't think he'd ever run that fast in his life.

Absent-mindedly, he reached an arm up under the back of his shirt, in search of whatever was causing him discomfort. His fingers brushed against something soft and he tugged at it. Pain shot through him unexpectedly. Alex didn't have time for this. He gave the thing another pull, and with another stab of pain it came away from his skin. Or more accurately, out of it.

What was this? Had one of the two men shot him with a dart or something?

But no, the item he held in his hand wasn't a weapon at all. It was a feather. Tousled and twisted from its time under his shirt, with blood beading at the quill end. Alex turned it over, confused. How had it got down the back of his top? And what bird was it from? Alex wasn't much of an expert when it came to local wildlife, but all the same, he felt as though he should have been able to recognise this one. Its colouring was so distinctive; a golden-cream base with a rough band of brown two thirds of the way down, and dark red right at the tip. What kind of bird dropped feathers like that?

He tossed it aside and watched it flutter into a clump of high grass off on the side of the path.

_Out of sight, out of mind._

Alex moved off again, jogging now that he was sure he'd let the two soldiers far behind. Funny, the whole reason he's been hanging back to begin with was to avoid them ending up behind him. Even at this distance he couldn't help but feel hunted.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a fairly short one, I think. Then after that everything goes to hell for Alex Rider.


	19. Then it Tightens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a more reasonable length than expected. Then again, I pretty much always end up writing more than originally planned. Or at least, things take longer to get through. Talking about getting through things, we've almost reached the end of the SAS arc at last!  
> Also, I think this chapter gets the fic back up to the original word count it had before I went back through and edited it. I ended up cutting out about 12k words worth of unnecessary stuff altogether. ANs like this, mostly.

Alex tried his best to avoid being alone again with either Tiger or Osprey. For one and a half peaceful days he managed it, but that couldn't last forever. When he nipped back into K-Unit's cabin to change his tee-shirt (after Tiger 'accidentally' spilled his dinner tray down Alex's front), the two of them followed him in. Cursing silently over letting them catch him so easily, Alex dragged on his clean top, hurriedly concealing the scars on his torso from view. After Tiger's recent behaviour, he really had no interest in allowing the man to see anymore of his skin than he could help.

What followed was an ultimatum. It might have been more effective if both of them had been able to decide quite what it was. As far as Alex could make out, Osprey's seemed to be along the lines of, 'Follow me outside and let me put a bullet through your head right now, or I'm going to tell all my mates about this.' Tiger's was a little more coherent but no more appealing, and to the tune of 'Let me do whatever the hell I want with you, and in return you can bite me again and I wont inform the Sargent that you're not actually human.'

Cornered, outnumbered and faced with two incredibly unpleasant options, Alex Rider chose the third. He flipped them a middle finger and dived into the tiny bathroom next to his bunk. He'd barely had time to slam the door shut and slide the bolt home before the two soldiers were hammering at it and yelling threats at him. It was only flimsy plywood and would give out entirely after a couple of solid clicks. Alex wasn't planning on sticking around long enough for them to work that out though.

He pulled down the lid on the toilet and stepped on to it to reach the window. It wasn't going to be easy getting out of it. None of the other members of his unit would have been able to fit through. It wasn't so much the fitting through that was the real problem though, more the awkward angle and the drop on the other side. It wasn't especially high, but it was on to hard concrete, so Alex didn't fancy going out the window face first.

He hauled himself up on to the narrow tiled ledge below it, scattering old cans of deodorant and toilet paper rolls as he went. There was a dusty old curtain rail just above him. Alex didn't trust it to hold his weight, but used it just to steady himself as he pulled his legs up and stuck them out the window. Ideally, Alex would have liked to twist around so he could hold on to the window ledge as he lowered himself down, but there wasn't time.

Kicking the window open as wide as it would go, Alex forced himself through it. The edge dug into his back painfully and he barely avoided whacking the back of his head on it, but a moment later he fell to the ground outside. By all rights it should have been an awkward, jarring landing, even for him. Instead, Alex found himself falling lightly on his feet in a slight crouch. There wasn't even the harsh spike of pain through his legs that landing on concrete should have caused. It looked as though going easy on the Parabiteamol in the evenings has unexpected bonuses to it, along with dramatically improving his times on assault course A.

Alex didn't have time to appreciate his success though. A second later, Tiger and Osprey burst around the corner. It hadn't been difficult for them to work out what the teenager had been planning to do, but they were rather surprised to see him out all ready. They'd been expecting to be able to grab hold of him as he tried to escape through the window.

What they also weren't expecting, was for Cub to peel back his lips and hiss at them, sharp canines glinting in the evening light and red flecks glowing in his dark eyes.

'Holy shit!'

'Oh, fuck!'

The SAS soldiers found themselves backing away slightly without meaning to.

'Oh god, that's freaky. How can you want anything to do with this creepy little fucker?' Osprey asked his friend.

Tiger didn't reply, too busy staring at the teenager. 'Freaky' wasn't the half of it. Here in front of them was something unnatural and truly dangerous. Here was the apex predator; humanity's secret one and only hunter. And yet, he still wanted Cub. Imagine it, being the one to dominate the natural predator of your species. It sent chills down Tiger's spine just to think about it.

Osprey was getting chills too, but for a very different reason. As he had done since he was a small child at the mercy of an unkind stepfather, he handled fear the only way he knew how. He channelled it into anger.

'Don't you fucking dare attack us, you freaky little bastard! One wrong move and I swear I'll kill you, damn the consequences. I'm giving you one last chance. One. Last Chance. If you try and fuck with us, or try and run away, it's over for you. Do you hear me? It's over.'

Alex straightened up, horrified. Not at Osprey's threat or the unpleasant gleam in Tiger's eyes, but at his own actions. He'd just _hissed_ at them. Hissed! He ran his tongue over the back of the sharp fang that had burst through his gums moments before. It should have bled, and it certainly should have hurt, but it didn't.

'I'm not going to run away,' he told them; the words feeling awkward as he tried to speak around his extended canines. Even Alex wasn't sure if he was telling the truth. 'I am going to end up attacking someone if you don't back off though. This is a defence mechanism. I really don't have that much control over it.' His fists were clenched tight as he fought against the fight or flight instincts screaming at him to move.

Osprey made a snorting noise. 'You told us the other day you had plenty of control over this!'

'And I told you that that's only up to the point where people try to, ah, hurt me. Like I said, it's a defence mechanism. You two just leave me alone and everything will be fine. Keep this up and someone will get hurt, and I'm not sure there's anything I'll be able to do to stop that.'

'Last chance, Cub,' Tiger replied.

Something inside the teenager snapped; the anger and fear he felt bubbling over. As red flecks flickered in dark his eyes, Alex spat, 'You just don't get it! This stupid obsession of yours is just fucking everything up! I'm not having anything to do with you, no matter what you say or do. Go ahead, tell the Sargent. See if he believes you. And see what MI6 has to say about all of this, even if he doesn't!' This final bluff was all he had left. If they actually did go and tell anyone, and word of it got back to MI6... He could feel the noose tightening around this throat already.

Alex couldn't stand it anymore. Couldn't stand being so close to these two bastards a second longer. He turned on his heel and marched away, not caring where he was going. Neither of the men followed after him. Alex wasn't sure if that meant he'd convinced them to back off, or if this was him blowing that 'last chance' of theirs.

 

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

 

Alex ran the assault course faster than ever after that, pushing himself to his limits as though his problems were ones that could simply be run from. As though they were obstacles that could be jumped across, swam through or climbed over. Unfortunately, it just meant that the teenage spy was forced to face his next problem sooner rather than later.

As soon as he entered K-Unit's cabin, he knew something was wrong. It wasn't the emptiness of the place, it was the smell. There was the edge of a cloying, sweet scent to the air that Alex recognised immediately as his medicine. Despair perched on his shoulders, digging in its heavy claws as he approached the back of the room. He opened the battered old locker that stood next to his bed and picked up a bottle.

Empty.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Each was empty.

His fingers snagged on one a the back of the shelf that felt heavier than the others. For a moment, hope flared up in his chest, ruffling despair's feathers.

But the consistency wasn't right. The top half of the bottle's contents was watery looking, with the heavier, more viscous liquid he recognised as his medicine settled at the bottom. Gingerly, Alex unscrewed the lid, and then pulled a disgusted face. With his heightened senses he didn't need to put his nose anywhere near the bottle to know what they'd done. Either Tiger or Osprey had pissed in it. Because of course it would be them. Who else would pour away all of the medicine a boy said he needed for a bad chest infection? And who else would be sick enough to leave him just this tiny amount left to taunt him with, and then ruin it?

He should have felt angry and frightened. Instead, a leaden dullness settled over Alex as he carefully screwed the lid back on tightly and went to throw the little brown bottle away into the bin in the bathroom. The sickly smell of his medicine was stronger in there, and there were speckles of it all over the toilet seat. No prizes for guessing the means they'd used to get rid of it all. And no prizes either for guessing why they'd done this. They hadn't been lying when they'd offered Alex his last chance. He'd rejected it, and now they meant to expose him for the monster he was.

But it was okay. It was all okay. He still had his parabiteamol. Sure, he'd never once skipped taking the three doses a day he needed of the liquid medication since he'd been put on it, but he could survive on the tablets alone, right? Those were the ones that really made the difference, weren't they?

Alex went back over to the locker and grabbed hold of a box of tablets. Just like the bottles, it felt ominously light in his hand. He shook it, hoping for a faint rattling sound but there was none. With a heavy heart, Alex opened the box and dragged the first sheet of tablets out. All there was was silver foil pock-marked by tears were someone had popped out every single one of them. He made sure to check every box, just in case Tiger and Osprey had missed any. But they hadn't. Every single Parabiteamol was gone, most likely flushed away down the toilet with the rest of his medication.

Alex collapsed down on to his bed, staring straight ahead and feeling numb, It was all gone. All of it. They'd taken away everything. He didn't know what to do. He'd been feeling more comfortable with how he was handling his _condition_ recently, and been taking less tablets. But that didn't mean he could go cold turkey just like that. How long would it be now before he killed someone?

Maybe Alex should just hand himself in. Give himself up to MI6. They were going to find out anyway, weren't they? Better now than later when he'd started killing people. It was terrifying to sit and wonder how long it would be before be started to lose all control of himself. Would it be a slow descent? Would Alex have to watch helplessly as bit-by-bit he turned into a monster? Or would he just wake up one day to find he'd gone feral overnight? His thoughts twisted off in all directions; a nest of serpents biting and snapping at each other as one worst case scenario after another raised its ugly head.

Then a thought struck him like a bolt of lightning.

Smithers!

Smithers had promised to be there for him no matter what. If Alex could contact the gadget master, he was bound to be able to find a way of getting help to his favourite teenage agent.

The I-pod. He had to find the I-pod.

Alex leapt to his feet and reached under his bed, dragging out his rucksack. He'd had a quick search for it inside his bag already with no luck the day before, but maybe he'd just missed it... He undid all the zips on the bag and upended it roughly, shaking its contents on to his sheets. Tossing it aside, Alex brushed a hand over the jumbled contents, scattering them. An empty bottle of water. Five bullet cartridges. A pack of plasters. Two cheap biro pens. An ordinance survey map for the local area. The wrappers from a couple of cereal bars. A box of parabiteamol. A compass.

A box of parabiteamol.

Alex snatched it up and shook it. The flood of relief that swept over him when it rattled was overwhelming. Hands shaking slightly, he opened it up. Three sheets of tablets, with only three missing from the top layer. That left Alex with twenty four little life saving pills. Though he wasn't sure if it was his life they had the potential to save, or everyone else's.

Clutching the box tightly to his chest, Alex continued to search through the items strewn across his bed. He double and triple-checked but in the end the young spy had to admit defeat. The I-pod simply wasn't here. Last he'd seen of it, it'd been in Tiger's hands just before... well, just before _that_ thing had happened. Maybe the creep still had hold of it. Or maybe the I-pod was lost somewhere in the long grass above the lake. Or...

_Oh._

_Oh no._

That splash.

That tiny little splash he'd heard just before Tiger had thrown his backpack into the lake after him. Now that he thought about it, Alex could almost picture the solar-panels on the back of his I-pod glinting in the late evening sun as it arced towards the water below.

Despair sunk its steely talons into him again. For just a minute there, Alex had thought he was saved. But his I-pod was gone, and with it, his only way of contacting Smithers.

At least he still had some tablets left. That was one tiny little thing left that he could cling to. He'd been in worse situations than this. The teenage spy was nothing if not a survivor. Like he had done so many times in the past, Alex Rider pushed away his feelings. They could do nothing to help him now. Only actions could save him.

He needed a plan. A tenuous little one started to form in the back of his mind. At the moment it was just a couple of strands of ideas, like the beginnings of a spider web. He'd have to work on weaving the rest of it.

As Alex thought, he moved. He stuffed everything useful back into his rucksack and yanked open the door to his locker again. Most of the clothes he had were military related. Everything too obviously army based was set aside, while tee-shirts, underwear and plain trousers were folded up as small as possible and added to the backpack. It was army regulation too, and roomy, but he was going to have to make sure to leave room for other things he might need.

A thorough search of his part of the cabin yielded a couple more useful things; bits of equipment he'd been using during exercises and the like. He was delighted to find another sheet of tablets that had fallen down the back of his bed at some point. There were only two left in it, but Alex rationalised that that was better than it being entirely empty. Twenty six now. Twenty six tablets between him and the monster.

He had a quick look around the rest of the room, just in case he'd been careless at some point and left more somewhere. He found nothing of interest (not wanting to go through the actual personal belongings of the other soldiers) apart from a short handwritten note left out on the table.

For a moment, Alex had thought it was going to be some kind of threat from Tiger and Osprey, or worse, a message to the rest of the unit about him. Instead, all it said was _'Gone to V-Unit's cabin for poker night. Don't wait up for us kid.'_ Alex didn't recognised the blocky handwriting but he presumed it must be Eagle's. No one else in his unit would have bothered to leave him a note to explain where they'd gone. For a moment he considered telling Eagle about what was going on. Or at least, of trying to explain the more believable bits of the situation. It'd be such a relief to have someone to confide in.

Or it might be just the thing that would get him killed. Alex sighed. He was used to working alone anyway, wasn't he? He didn't need anybody but himself. People just let him down or betrayed him, didn't they? Loneliness nipped at him, demanding to be acknowledged. But he refused to pay it any attention. Self-pity lay that way and he had no time for such an unhelpful self-indulgence.

Pushing away his feelings, Alex sat down to plan out his next move. He could do this. All it would take was a couple of days, then he could be out of the Lake District forever. He could only hope that he actually had two days...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had chapter twenty roughly planned out for something like five years now. Feels weird to think I'm finally going to be writing it.


End file.
